I 

■..■■•■. ■ i ■ 

■ 

V 

• : • 

i ! 
; : . . . 

- 

■ 

- 

- 
... 









■ 
-- : ... 

... 

. . . . , . . . . 

. . . ■ , . . , - : 

■ 

: . . . 

. . . ■. i t- -if ;. i 

• ■ 

. . ... 

... . ; 

' 



. . 

... 

. .... 

..•.:. . ■ .... 

... 
... . . : 

. . ■ 

... 

• . • . 

. . 

..... 

• : . . . 







. . 



: 

........ 









iCl 




B 


'KJ 


IS 



/ 






: 






Class 




Bookm/J 



.£> 



C 



■■•- 



* — 



^r, o/. 




-6d 



X" 






LETTERS ON SLAYERY 



FROM THE 



OLD WORLD 



WRITTEN DURING THE CANVASS FOR THE PRESIDENCY OP 
THE UNITED STATES IN 1860. 



TO WHICH ARK ADDED 

A LETTER TO LORD BROUGHAM 

ON THE JOHN BROWN RAID; 

AND 

A BRIEF REFERENCE TO THE RESULT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL 
CONTEST, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 



BY JAMES WILLIAMS, 

LATE UNITED STATES MINISTER TO TURKEY. 



Ncrg?)btllc, QLmn.: 

SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE. 

1861. 



C«rpH ^- 



ETH? 



Entered, according to act of the Congress of the Confederate States 
of America, on the 16th September, 1861, by 

JAMES WILLIAMS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the Middle District of Tennessee. 



Exchange 
Lib. of the Unlv/. of N. C* 
May 25,1937 



CONTENTS. 



Preface Page vii 

LETTER I. 

Introduction — Slavery established in North America by Great Britain 
— Slavery denounced by England only after the American Revolu- 
tion — The New Republics obliged to adopt the existing Institution 
— Causes of Antagonism between the White and Black Races — M. 
De Tocqueville on Slavery in America Page 9 

LETTER II. 

Reasons why Slavery could not be Abolished, and proofs that it 
should not have been Abolished — Emancipation would make the 
condition of the Slaves worse — The Abolitionists cannot accom- 
plish their purposes even with the assent of the Slaveholders — 
Slavery was abolished in the North by selling the Slaves to the 
South 30 

LETTER III. 

Classification of the Adversaries of Slavery in the Southern States — 
The London Times on the causes of English Opposition to Slavery 
— What position would England occupy towards the Belligerents, if 
the Republican party should attempt to carry its measures into effect ? 
— Would the South hesitate about defending herself to the last ex- 
tremity ? 44 

LETTER IV. 

Opposition to abstract Slavery resolved into opposition to Slavery in 
America, without considering the circumstances of its existence — 
Slavery Romances have misled the Public Mind — The manifest in- 
justice of crediting them as History — The attitude of the present 
adversaries of Slavery in times past — Achievements of Slavery... 61 

(iii) 



IV CONTENTS. 

LETTER V 

Labor, the Foundation of the Wealth of Nations — Duties of Govern- 
ment — Declaration of Independence, and its correct interpretation 
— Classification of Rulers, and the Governed — Names do not ex- 
press the Qualities of Objects Page 73 

LETTER VI. 

Different systems of Labor considered — Free Labor more or less 
dependent upon Capital — Southey on English Labor System — Un- 
happy Condition of the Factory Operatives — Products of Slave 
and Free Labor Compared 86 

LETTER VII. 

Unfavorable results of Emancipation by England — Beneficial results 
of Slave Labor in the United States — Comparison of the condition 
of the Slave and Free States of the American Continent — Great 
importance attached by England to tropical productions — The in- 
terests of England and the Planting States identical... 103 

LETTER VIII. 

Opposing interests combined in the Anti-Slavery Party — Causes of 
disaster to Republics — Tendency of Slavery to produce equality 
in the dominant race — Causes of opposition to Slavery by aristo- 
cratic bodies — Morals of Slave and Free States — Capital and Labor 
united in Slave States 118 

LETTER IX. 

Influence of Public Opinion — Origin of the Anti-Slavery Sentiment 
in England — Failure of schemes to destroy the value of Slave 
Labor in America — Revolting Inhumanity of the systems instituted 
to supersede Slave Labor — Comparison of the Slavery System •with 
those proposed as Substitutes — Subjugation of India by England — 
Atrial by the Moral Law 136 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER X. 

Summary of the relative advantages of different systems of Labor — 
Results of the Comparison — Characteristics of Great Britain — An 
Anti-Slavery Poem — Does not fairly illustrate John Bull — Reflec- 
tions of a Philanthropist upon subjects suggested by the Poem — 
The Institution of Slavery more humane now than formerly. ...p 156 

LETTER XL 

Great Britain— T Her interests in American Affairs — Public mind of 
Europe excited by misrepresentations against the South — The Lon- 
don Times on Sumner's last Speech — "Republican" party of 
America — Its purposes hostile to the South 175 

LETTER XII. 

Influence of Anti-Slavery Fanaticism upon Religion — Bible Authority 
on Slavery — Increase of Infidelity — Influence of the Clergy for 
Good and Evil 189 

LETTER XIII. 

Present Attitude of Parties in the United States — Success of the 
Republican Party will accomplish Disunion — Its Measures Ex- 
amined, etc 200 

LETTER XIV. 

A Confederacy could never be established which did not recognize 
the equality of the States— Position of Parties illustrated — Ag- 
gressions of the South and North considered 213 

LETTER XV. 

Du^y of Citizens — Republican Measures are the results of unfriendly 
feeling ; not the cause — Spirit of the Republican Party incon- 
sistent with a desire to maintain the Union in its integrity 225 



VI CONTENTS. 

LETTER XVI. 

The madness of the hour — In Europe the Dissolution of the Union 
is expected — A few words to Northern Enemies of the South — 
Conclusion Page 234 

LETTER TO LORD BROUGHAM on the John Brown raid 249 

THE RESULT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

Interest excited abroad by the last canvass for the Presidency, and 
its results — Amazement at the consequences — The South tranquilly 
living under the same laws as before, while the North is in a state 
of Revolution^Atrocities of the invaders — Fremont's Proclama- 
tion — Spectacle presented to mankind — Nature of the late compact 
of Union — Reserved rights of the States — While the Monarchies 
of Europe are upholding, the Lincoln Government is denying the 
rights of the people to self-government — The Union of South and 
North is opposed to the freedom of the former, and the happiness 
of the latter, and can never be restored — Characteristic differences 
between them — "Puritans," "Cavaliers" — The South will stand 
higher in the estimation of the civilized world after separation — 
The only issue is subjection or independence — Providence smiles 
upon the Southern people — Through the murky clouds the sunlight 
is already visible — President Lincoln's declaration that the States 
derived their powers from the General Government disproved, Note 
to page 288 — The nature and terms of the compact of union between 
the States considered, Note to page 293 277 



PREFACE. 



The following letters upon slavery in the Southern States 
of the late American Union, were written at Constantinople 
during the canvass for the Presidency of the United States 
in 1860, and forwarded at the time for publication in a 
political journal. In deference to the desire of a number 
of intelligent gentlemen, they are now issued in their present 
form, as a single atom in the history of that great struggle 
which terminated in the election of a President by the united 
votes of the Northern States, to be speedily followed by the 
dismemberment of the Confederacy. 

It will be necessary that the reader should bear constantly 
in mind that the letters were written before, not after the 
occurrence of these events. Although the anticipations of 
the author have been strikingly verified, both in Europe and 
in America, he does not pretend to have furnished new facts, 
or to have thrown new light upon the interesting and im- 
portant subjects upon which he has written. But his posi- 
tion abroad afforded him opportunities, which were possessed 
by but few of his fellow-countrymen, for acquiring an insight 
into the real opinions, and feelings, and general public senti- 
ment of Europe, in regard to the contest which was then in 
active progress between the North and the South ; and also 
of the designs of those statesmen and politicians of the Old 
World, between whom and the active leaders of the anti- 

(vii) 



i 



Vlll PREFACE. 

slavery party in America there existed a coincidence and 
agreement of sentiment and purpose. 

In Europe, moreover, there was no attempt to conceal the 
ultimate objects which the leading "Republicans" of the 
North and their European allies proposed to accomplish, if 
the former should succeed in obtaining the undivided control 
of the General Government. 

In Great Britain, as in America, the anti-slavery party was 
divided into two general classes : the one comprising the 
prominent statesmen, together with their less distinguished 
adherents, who looked to the political, and personal, and na- 
tional advantages which might follow a gradual but sure pro- 
cess of emancipation in the Southern planting States; the 
other comprising the fanatics of one idea, and the extreme 
advocates of prompt action. Between the former and the 
leaders of the " Republican party," there was understood to 
be a perfect accord. Both agreed that the process of abo- 
litionizing the South should be so gradual as not to produce 
any convulsion in the commercial world, by a sudden dimi- 
nution in the products of slave labor ; while it should be so 
cautious in its development as not to awaken any serious 
alarm among the great body of the Southern people. 

Under whatever vail the anti-slavery leaders in the North 
may have attempted to conceal their real purpose in America, 
there was no effort to disguise the fact in Europe that " the 
mission of the Republican party was to effect the extinction 
of slavery in the American Confederacy." This opinion was 
so thoroughly implanted in the public mind, that any intima- 
tion of a doubt in regard thereto would have been received 
with incredulity by the public at large, and repelled by their 
European friends as an imputation against the personal in- 
tegrity of their American allies. 

It is a remarkable fact that the only intelligent observers 



PREFACE. IX 

of the events which were transpiring in the United States, 
who were surprised at the immediate effects of the success 
of the " Republicans/' were those who were themselves the 
instigators or actors in that great political crusade against the 
South. These seem, in their calculation of consequences, to 
have ignored alike the existence of that great body of earnest 
fanatics whose passions they had aroused to madness, while 
invoking their necessary aid, and of that natural instinct of 
self-preservation which would teach the freemen of the 
South, while fathoming the hostile intent of their enemies, 
that although it might be swift destruction to resist, it would 
be but an ignoble life and a lingering death to submit ! They 
alone seemed blind to the consequences which would follow, 
as a necessary sequence, upon the heels of their victory. 
They alone seem not to have considered, that whilst the mul- 
titude of their mad followers would not be content to post- 
pone gathering the fruits of their victory, and would press 
forward at once to reach the promised goal, the South 
would, as one man, gird on its armor for defence, and by 
accepting the challenge to immediate combat, make " gradual 
emancipation'' for ever impossible. 

While it was universally understood throughout Europe 
that the only question at issue in the struggle for the presi- 
dency was that of slavery in the Southern States, and that 
the result would involve the destruction of that institution, 
or the dissolution of the Confederacy, in the event of the 
success of the " Republican party," the greater number be- 
lieved that the only result would be the ultimate emancipa- 
tion of the slaves. So active and successful have been the^ 
enemies of the South, in misrepresenting the character and 
qualities of the Southern people, there were but few who 
supposed that they could offer any serious resistance to the 
encroachments of their powerful neighbor. The events of 



X PREFACE. 

the last few months have not only dispelled this delusion 
from the public mind, but they have created a revulsion in 
the sentiment and opinion of the civilized world, as startling 
in its magnitude as it is just in its conclusions. Europe is 
at length beginning to discover, as passing events are devel- 
oping with a rapid movement, the true merits of this life- 
and-death struggle for supremacy over the soil of the South ; 
how egregiously it has been deceived by the persistent mis- 
representations of the Southern people by their unscrupulous 
enemies. 

That the war in which the gallant sons of the South are 
now engaged will end in securing theirmdependenee, cannot 
be questioned ) that its prosecution may be attended with 
heavy sacrifices, is equally true. But amidst all the evils 
which may accompany it, or the blessings which will succeed 
its successful close, not the least gratifying of the results 
achieved will be the vindication of the character of the 
Southern people before the civilized world, against the asper- 
sions and misrepresentations which have been so unjustly and 
so profusely heaped upon them by those who claimed to be 
their fellow-countrymen. 



tfam on ' jJIakrj. 



LETTER I 



Introduction — Slavery established in North America by Great Britain 
— Slavery denounced by England only after the American Revolu- 
tion — The New Republic obliged to adopt the existing Institution 
— Causes of Antagonism between the White and Black Races — M. 
De Tocqueville on Slavery in America. 

The American-born citizen, who has been called 
to reside for a time in a distant country, may, after 
the lapse of a few years, cease to feel any great per- 
sonal solicitude in regard to the mere material out 
of which a Presidential ticket is composed ; yet he 
is all the more deeply concerned in observing and 
noting the popular impulses, the sentiments, and 
the purposes which animate the electors, and which 
are supposed to be represented by their respective 
candidates. However intense mav have been his 
feelings when at home, touching the local, sectional, 
or personal controversies, which are often turned 
to account bv ambitious men as auxiliaries to their 
personal aggrandizement, they are softened by con- 
tinued absence, and soon become merged into that 
broad American sentiment, which embraces every 
foot of territory over which floats the flag of the 
Union ! Not that he loves less the home and the 
friends which he has left behind him, or that the 

(9) 



10 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

local attachments which have had their origin in 
education or association are less strong or active, 
for on the contrary these feelings which spring from 
and encircle the heart, are only intensified by 
absence. But the expanded vision discovers more 
clearly the magnificence of that great confederacy, 
of which each particular part forms an essentia) 
element; and in the contemplation of which the 
geographical lines which define these minute 
divisions, become fainter and more faint, until they 
are lost in. the outline — the form — the dimensions 
— the aspect of that grand unit, which represents to 
the nations of the world the single sovereignty of 
the Great Republic. 

I am sure that if these letters ever meet the eye 
of those for whom they are intended, they will not 
find therein the expression of a thought, or a senti- 
ment, or a feeling, or an impulse, which is not recon- 
cilable with that broad and comprehensive Ameri- 
canism which embraces each and every member of 
the federal Union. 

That the writer is a Southerner by birth and 
education, may be readily inferred. That he feels 
in every fibre of his heart an earnest and unchange- 
able attachment for the political institutions of the 
State in which he was born, which no time can 
eradicate, and which neither obloquy nor misfortune 
can abate, he is proud to declare ; yet he trusts that 
this frank avowal will not close the eyes and ears of 
those who may have different local attachments, 
against the truths which he may enunciate. How- 






LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 11 

ever unsuccessful lie may be in implanting his own 
convictions in the minds of others, he only asks 
that they be considered with the same frankness, 
and under the influence of the same American 
feeling which animates him in their utterance. 

In order to arrive at just conclusions in regard to 
the merits of a question, which enlists, to a greater 
or less extent, the passions and prejudices, as well 
as the interests of those who are arrayed upon one 
side or the other, it is well to understand the,; 
relative positions of the parties to the controversy." 
A knowledge of the motives of human actions is 
essential to an understanding of the merits of these 
actions themselves, and we may reasonably distrust 
the arguments of those who have a great personal, 
selfish interest behind the ostensible object which 
they propose to accomplish. The passions, the j 
prejudices, the interest, or the ignorance of men \ 
often impel them to act unjustly towards their 
fellow-men; and no injustice is more common 
than that of condemning others for apparent or 
real faults — as tested by the standard of abstract 
right — without considering the circumstances of 
those against whom such censures are directed. In 
order to comprehend fully the true merits of the 
subject of controversy between the North and the 
South, upon which the respective sections have 
arrayed themselves in the now pending contest for 
the Presidency, it is necessary to begin at the 
beginning — to commence at the foundation, and to 
trace step by step the origin and progress of the 



12 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

causes that have produced a conflict within the 
heart of the Confederacy, which may end in disaster 
to one or both. Many statesmen and wise men in 
the old world, both of the friends and enemies of 
the Republic, declare unreservedly their belief, that 
the Chief Magistrate now in the occupancy of the 
Executive Chair is the last of the line of American 
Presidents who will rule over the present confede- 
racy of States. At home and abroad the danger is 
apparent, and as the writer of these letters cannot 
participate personally and actively in the conflict, 
he adopts this as the only means by which he may 
communicate with his countrymen. For this he 
offers no other apology or explanation, than that he 
is an American citizen. 

The first African slaves who were introduced into 
what now constitutes the United States of America, 
but which at that time formed the larger part of 
the North American provinces of Great Britain, 
were transported thither in British ships, under the 
sanction and by the authority of the British Gov- 
ernment. The speculation was pecuniarily suc- 
cessful, and under the special patronage of this 
Power, slaves were imported in such large numbers as 
to alarm the European inhabitants for their personal 
safety. The colonists thereupon urged the British 
Government to "abandon, or at least to suspend, the 
farther introduction of these barbarians, and se- 
conded their request by a detailed statement of the 
evils which they believed that they had reason to 
apprehend, if the system should be continued. 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 13 

But the Government of Great Britain was deaf 
to their representations and to their complaints, 
and the traffic in slaves was prosecuted with 
increased activity and effect. The trade was val- 
uable to England in a double sense. First, the 
price paid for the slaves enriched the British 
subjects, who were either directly or indirectly 
interested in the traffic, while at the same time it 
gave profitable employment to her ships, and added 
to her power upon the ocean ; and secondly, the 
productions of the colonies rapidly increased, stimu- 
lated by this augmentation in the number of her / 
operatives. 

The treatment of these captives was necessarily 
harsh and cruel; for besides being savages but just 
subjected to the galling and unaccustomed restraints 
of servitude under civilized masters, with no other 
feeling towards those by whom they had been 
enslaved and held in bondage but that of hatred, 
they were formidable in numbers ; and when added \ 
to the strength of the native races who were at 
enmity with the colonists, it will readily be seen 
that a lack of due circumspection or vigilance 
might have been attended with fatal consequences 
to the sparse population of European blood. 

Erom that period up to the very moment when, 
after a long and sanguinary and cruel war, the 
American colonies achieved their independence and 
became one of the family of nations, the Govern- i 
ment of Great Britain never ceased to encourage 
the importation of slaves. It constituted, up to 



^ 









*._ 



14 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

that epoch, a most important branch of her com- 
merce, and the great value .which she attached 
thereto may be estimated by the fact, that at the 
end of a long and bloody European war, in which 
she figured as one of the chief combatants, she 
only claimed as her portion of the spoils of victory, 
the exclusive privilege of prosecuting the slave trade. 
This dearly-bought concession she exercised and 
enforced with as much energy and zeal as she em- 
ployed after the American Eevolution, in consti- 
tuting her navy into a police of the seas for the 
suppression of the traffic. 

It may with truth be said, that of all the nations 
of the earth, Great Britain has contributed most — 
first, towards the establishment of African slavery 
in America, and afterwards towards exciting against 
it the prejudices of the civilized world. Having 
forced the human chattels upon her reluctant sub- 
jects, that she might reap the rich harvest of their 
labors in the fertile fields of the new world, she 
never repented herself of the " sin of slavery " — 
she never felt the bowels of her compassion yearn- 
ing towards the " miserable captives " of her own 
cupidity, until by a successful revolution these col- 
onies threw off their allegiance and erected them- 
selves into one of the independent family ot 
nations. The sceptre of the slave power thus and 
then passed into the hands of a rival, and from that 
period dates the conversion of Great Britain to the 
doctrine of universal emancipation. 

Scarcely had the American Eevolution brought 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 15 

about this unanticipated and disastrous phase in the 
immediate and probable future condition of slavery, 
and the slave trade, than the British Government 
changed its tactics with most indecent haste, and 
caused her navy to institute a rigorous search after 
all vessels which were engaged in what she then de- 
nominated the " infamous traffic in human flesh." 
These, when found, were captured — carried into 
British ports — condemned as lawful prizes — the 
proceeds thereof placed in the pockets of the cap- 
tors — and the liberated Africans were sent to work 
for a term of years, as involuntary " free laborers," 
upon the plantations of British subjects. This is a 
curious but characteristic illustration of the facility 
with which English philanthropy adapts itself to 
the exigencies of British pecuniary interests.* 

An enlightened and unprejudiced judgment would 
decide that her sudden conversion, and her osten- 
tatious horror of the institution of slavery, occurred 
at an epoch well calculated to create doubts in re- 
gard to the genuineness of that philanthropy, 
which, however noisy in its demonstration, was 
painfully at variance with her practice, as long as 



* The reader is referred to the case of the American brig Fortuna 
— Dodson's A dm. Reports : vol. 1, page 95 — and of the American 
ship Arcadia — reported in Acton's Adm. Reports : vol. 1, page 24. 
The capture of the former occurred in 1807, and of the latter at a 
period somewhat later. In both instances the American vessels 
were condemned as lawful prizes by the Lords of Appeal, and the 
products thereof divided among the crews of the vessels which had 
seized them. 



16 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

she retained a controlling interest in the traffic in 
slaves, and in the fruits ot their labor. And we 
have a right to assume that a strongly-impelling in- 
centive to her present active intervention in the 
anti-slavery movement is, that by impairing or de- 
stroying, by a gradual but sure process, the institu- 
tion of slavery in America, she may without a rival 
become the great producer of cotton for the con- 
sumption of the world, by means of her vast pos- 
sessions in India. It is for this, among other causes, 
that her leading anti-slavery statesmen have misre- 
presented the institution of slavery, which she 
erected in the territory of the United States, and 
have endeavored to excite against that country the 
prejudices of the civilized world. Unable to 
achieve this result so readily by any other means at 
their command, they have adopted the subtle me- 
thod of building up a powerful party within the 
Confederacy itself, and thus throwing upon Ame- 
rican citizens the burden of working out their 
policy and purposes. They have leagued them- 
selves in America with every abominable heresy 
which, under the license of unrestricted liberty, has 
obtained a partial success in certain parts of the 
Republic. They are in intimate alliance with im- 
practicable foreign-born Red Eepublicans — Four- 
ierites — Agrarians— the advocates of " Free Love ,: 
and "Woman's Rights" — Deists, and Atheists — 
all leagued together under the designation of the 
"Anti-slavery Party." 
These are your American allies, haughty Eng- 






LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 17 

land ! They are the leaders of these, who are feasted 
and honored in your Baronial Halls, when, after an 
assault of more than usual virulence against the in- 
stitutions of their native land, they visit the shores 
of the father-land to receive the wages of their 
treachery ! 

There may arrive a period when England may 
regret that, in giving aid and comfort to these, she 
has repulsed those who certainly are not least noble, 
chivalrous, or generous among the descendants of 
English ancestry in the New World. \, 

Upon the establishment of the independence of f *~J* 
the United States, about one-fifth of the population, 
in round numbers, were slaves, many of whom had f 
been but recently brought from the shores of Africa. [\$ fa^f»&§ 
Thoroughly barbarous — without even the instincts ^ srt'kjt 
of civilization — they still formed a considerable^*' 
portion of the population ; and in the formation of 
the new Government, it was necessary to assign for 
them a position. The questions arose : What shall 
be done with these wild and uncultivated savages ? 
What rank shall they occupy in the State ? 

If these slaves had been at the time congregated 
together upon the neighboring tropical islands, or 
if they had been isolated from the body of the Eu- 
ropean inhabitants in provinces more or less remote, 
there would have been allowed a much wider lati- 
tude in determining what should be their future 
condition. Their emancipation, either immediate 
or prospective, would have been a mere question of 
expediency, involving only a certain sum of money, 



18 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

as a remuneration to the owners. Great Britain, 
under like circumstances, abolished slavery in her 
distant possessions, doubtless under the conviction 
that she could thus assail with greater advantage 
the institution of slavery in the United States, and 
in the end substitute for both, the labor of her mil- 
lions of conquered Asiatics in India. Whether her 
measures were well taken, or whether the specula- 
tion has proven to be a profitable one, it is not my 
present purpose to investigate. 

But the revolted colonists found themselves in no 
position in which such an alternative was presented 
to them, even if it would have seemed the part of 
wisdom to have adopted it. By the policy of Great 
Britain in establishing these slaves upon the Ame- 
rican Continent, they were intermingled with the 
white inhabitants in the greater part of the States 
of the new Confederacy. They were established 
as domestics or farm laborers at almost every 
domestic threshold, and hence the questions in- 
volved in deciding upon their future position were 
of much graver significance, and their choice of 
means was much more limited. 

The new Government being a Republic, founded " 
upon the principle of equality of rights, was bound 
in the beginning to confer upon all whom she recog- 
nized as citizens the same equality of rights under the 
Constitution. From this position there was no es- 
cape. To have conferred upon one class of citizens 
certain rights, which should be withheld from 
another, would have been not only absurd, but in a 



V 






%"l 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 19 

Republic, impossible. The primary — the essential 
condition of a Republic is the absolute political 
equality of the individual members composing it. 

It certainly requires no argument to prove that 
these African slaves were totally unfit, by nature, 
habit, and education, to enter upon the discharge of 
the responsible duties of free citizens. To have 
created them such would, in the very act of inau- 
gurating the Republic, have sounded its death-knell ! 
Every instinct, every impulse, every feeding of the 
white race would have revolted against the contam- 
inating association, while the friends of the infant 
Republic would have had the mortification of wit- 
nessing its destruction, even before the erection of 
the corner-stone of that edifice, which now stands 
in all its magnificent and complete proportions, the 
pride of every American and the wonder of man- 
kind. 

Wiser counsels prevailed. The African, unsuited 
to be a citizen, was continued in his condition of 
slavery, and the product of his labor and that of his 
descendants has enriched the world — has contri- 
buted largely towards bringing within the reach of 
the great masses of mankind the essential products 
of the warm latitudes ; and last, though not least, 
it has been a principal element in developing the 
resources and increasing the power of the Great 
Republic. J§ 

Soon after the establishment of the new Govern- 
ment, the Congress enacted a law fixing upon a pe- 
riod, not remote, after which no slaves should be 




20 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

introduced from abroad into any State or Territory 
of the Republic. Of the nearly four millions of 
slaves now held as such in the United States, not 
five hundred have been introduced in contravention 
of that enactment. 

It is, in this connection, worthy of special remark, 
that for the ancestors of the great body of Africans 
at this day held as slaves, within the limits of the 
American Republic, the estimated value thereof, was 
paid, under the sanction and approval of the British 
Government, to British subjects ! For nearly every 
drop of blood which flows in the veins of the slaves 
of the United States, England has received the price in 
gold! And yet this England shakes her gory locks 
at us, and says " the sin" is ours 1 1 She points to 
her desolated islands, with their famishing freed 
slaves, and tells us that her " skirts are clear." 

Judas Iscariotbetraved his Lord and Masterforthe 
paltry bribe of thirty pieces of silve r ; but after the act 
of guilt and shame was past recall, reflection came, and 
with it came remorse. He cast away the guilty wages 
of his sin, and prayed for pardon, but his crimewastoo 
great for forgiveness. England, in what she now 
denominates the " unholy traffic in human flesh," also 
received the wages of her sin. She never reflected 
upon the " enormity of the crime against humanity," 
until "the great market for human blood and sinews " 
was closed against her. Then came her tardy re- 
pentance ; but worse even than .Judas, she has never 
cast away from her, nor offered to restore the wages 
of her sin ; and shall she be forgiven ? 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 21 

If the institution of slavery in the New World has 
proven to be a curse to mankind, if as is alleged by 
modern philanthropy, its existence is a crime against 
humanity, then, of all the nations of the globe, Great 
Britain is the most to be condemned for its establish- 
ment and its perpetuation. If on the other hand, it 
is a system of labor, which while conferring blessings 
upon the slave, and elevating him to a rank above 
that which any of his race have ever before occupied, 
has at the same time contributed materially to the 
happiness, the prosperity, and the civilization of the 
world, impartial justice would not assign to England, 
any portion of merit, for her instrumentality in the 
benefits which have resulted from its establishment. 

But to return again to the subject from which I 
have for a moment digressed. The separate States 
which had secured their independence, although ex- 
ercising sovereignty, each within its defined limits, 
delegated certain powers to a government, erected 
by themselves, which should be the representative 
of all. They established the Federal Union, but the 
sovereignty of each State remained entire, except 
wherein a limited power was surrendered specifically 
to the General Government, having reference almost 
exclusively to their foreign relations and to their 
mutual intercourse. 

The free inhabitants of the slave States, consituting 
a large majority of the whole, being desirous rather 
to establish a firm, and lasting, and prosperous gov- 
ernment, than to test in practice the merits of a 
doubtful theory, adapted their form of government 



22 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

to the exigencies of the circumstances by which they 
were surrounded. As before stated, they recognized 
in their Constitutions the political equality of all the 
European races. This was but the admission of an 
existing fact. But they denied to the African slaves 
the rights of citizenship. These were wisely left in 
the same relative position to the white races which 
they had occupied while the country was under the 
dominion of Great Britain. The change, therefore, 
in the form of the government was not attended by 
any violent changes in the habits or conditions of 
the people. "Had different counsels prevailed, and 
had the governments of these States sought to en- 
graft upon their Constitutions the theoretical idea 
of universal equality, it must be admitted that the 
governments thus established would have failed to 
secure the end proposed, and would in all human 
probability have resulted disastrously to the inter- 
ests and the happiness of all. There would have 
been a perpetual conflict between the two races, or 
there would have been an amalgamation of them. 
Either would have been alike fatal. 

This departure from the theoretical doctrines of 
visionary enthusiasts, who would change even the 
laws of Heaven itself, to make what they conceive 
to be a perfect government, has from that period to 
the present, afforded for the adherents of this 
system a theme for unceasing denunciation. 

It may here be said that the adversaries of slavery, 
beyond the boundaries of the slave States, ask that 
something be done which is revolting to every 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 23 

feeling, or sentiment, or thought, or impulse of 
the dominant race. They demand that the free white 
citizens should not only disregard the prejudices 
of education, and the instincts of nature, hut even set 
at defiance the apparent will of Omnipotence, which 
has marked with signs so unmistakable the dis- 
tinctions between the races. 

"We may readily imagine a physical force competent 
to the destruction of the liberties of the freemen of 
the Southern States. "We may conceive of a con- 
centration of power, adequate to the purpose of 
enchaining their limbs, and consigning the bodies 
of the refractory and unyielding to loathsome dun- 
geons. But in view of the feelings with which the 
Africans are regarded by the European races in 
America, we cannot imagine any possible exercise 
of human tyranny potent enough to compel them 
to admit in their hearts a political equality, or an 
amalgamation with the degraded race. However 
theoretical philanthropists may refuse to recognize 
in their systems of government the distinctions of 
color, capacity and race, still the ineradicable pre- 
judice exists, and the testimony of the past, as well 
as the promptings of common reason, teach us that 
in establishing laws for the government of mankind, 
we must not eschew the common and prevailing sen- 
timents of the governed, except in the presence of 
an overwhelming force of bayonets. 

In the case we are considering, the distinctions are 
so legible — the lines so ineradicable — the differences 
so indelibly stamped by nature itself, that the 



24 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

repugnance must be perpetual. . Any withdrawal of 
the legal barriers which now keep the races asunder, 
would inevitably result in the destruction of one or 
both. 

Let not the honest and well meaning opponents 
of slavery delude themselves or others into the be- 
lief that there can beany essential modification of the 
existing relations between the whites and the blacks, 
while they inhabit a common territory. Let them 
remember that an essential condition of a republic 
is, that all who are recognized as citizens must be 
invested, under any given state of circumstances, 
with an equality of rights. Whenever the States of 
the Confederacy or the General Government recog- 
nize, by their Constitutions and their laws, two sets 
or classes of citizens, invested with unequal privi- 
leges, and with different sets of laws for each, they 
violate the fundamental principle upon which a purely 
republican government is founded. In making laws 
therefore to be applied to the great mass of Africans, 
they must be regarded as either slaves or citizens. 
If as citizens, then must they be placed upon a politi- 
cal equality with the European races. 

Even assuming however, that in a Republic there 
could exist recognized classes of citizens, with differ- 
ent and unequal political rights, is it not plain that 
a change which would involve only a partial degree 
of liberty would render the condition of the African 
worse than his present state of servitude ? Accom- 
plish this change and it could only be perpetuated 
by an overwhelming power from without; and upon 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 25 

the instant when the external pressure should be 
removed, that instant would the conflict between the 
races commence — the one to free itself from all politi- 
cal inferiority, the other to reduce the African to his 
former condition of servitude — without considering 
the cost during its progress, this could only result in 
the complete subjection of one or the other. 

Whatever may be the abstract merits of slavery — 
whatever its evils or advantages, it is manifest that 
when Great Britain introduced Africans into her 
American Colonies, she designed that their enslave- 
ment should be perpetual. She never could have con- 
ceived it possible that they would occupy any other 
relation to the European races. No brazen collar 
around the neck of the slave, was necessary to dis- 
tinguish him from his master. The hand of Omni- 
potence in characters broad, deep, and ineffaceable 
had marked him, as of a different and inferior race. 
The British slave dealer sought in the traffic present 
gain, but the British Government, looking to the 
future, and anticipating no change in the sovereignty 
of the country, sought to enlarge the productions of 
her colonies in all time to come by transplanting a 
race with characteristics so widely distinct from the 
Europeans, that whatever might be the desire of the 
dominant race, they could not occupy towards each 
other any other relation than that of Master and Slave. 
In establishing African slavery therefore, the British 
Government designed that it should be perpetual. 

In regard to the existence of this natural repug- 
nance, heightened by habit and education, even M. 



28 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

De Tocqueville, notwithstanding his theoretical and 
cultivated hostility to slavery, bears ample testimony. 
Anxious as he was to discover arguments adverse to 
the institution of slavery, and eagerly as he sought 
for, and recorded the evils, real or imaginary, em- 
enating therefrom, and indulging those prejudices 
as he did, to the great injustice of the American 
Slave States, he was constrained most reluctantly to 
admit, that any material change in the relative con- 
dition of the races would result disastrously to one 
or both. 

M. De Tocqueville says : 

The abstract and transient fact of slavery, is fatally united to the 
physical and permanent fact of color. The tradition of slavery dis- 
honors the race, and the peculiarity of the race perpetuates the 
tradition of slavery. 

That the negro transmits the eternal mark of his ignominy to all his 
descendants ; and although the law may abolish slavery, God alone 
can obliterate the traces of its existence. 

The modern slave differs from his master, not only in his condition, 
but in his origin. You may set the negro free, but you cannot make 
him otherwise than an alien to the European. Nor is this all ; we 
scarcely acknowledge the common features of mankind in this child 
of debasement whom slavery has brought among us. His physiognomy 
is to our eyes hideous, his understanding weak, his tastes low ; and 
we are almost inclined to look upon him as a being intermediate 
between man and the brutes. 

If it be so difficult to root out an inequality which solely originates 
in the law, how are those distinctions to be destroyed which seem to 
be founded upon the immutable laws of nature herself. When I 
remember the extreme difficulty with which aristocratic bodies, of 
whatever nature they may be, are commingled with the mass of the 
people, and the exceeding care which they take to preserve the ideal 
boundaries of their caste inviolate, I despair of seeing an aristocracy 
disappear which is founded upon visible and indelible signs. Those 



? 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 27 

who hope that the Europeans will ever mix with the negroes, appear 
to me to delude themselves. 

Hitherto, whenever the whites have been the most powerful, they 
have maintained the blacks in a subordinate or servile position; 
wherever the negroes have been strongest they have destroyed the 
whites : such has been the only course of events which has ever taken 
place between the two races. 

I see that in a certain portion of the territory of the United States 
at the present day, the legal barrier which separated the two races 
is tending to fall away ; but not that which exists in the manners of 
the country : slavery recedes, but the prejudice to which it has given 
birth remains stationary. Whosoever has inhabited the United States, 
must have perceived that in those parts of the Union in which the 
negroes are no longer slaves, they have in no wise drawn near to the 
whites. On the contrary, the prejudice to the race appears to be 
stronger in the States which have abolished slavery than in those, 
where it still exists ; and nowhere is it so intolerant as in those States 
where servitude has never been known. 

It is true that in the North of the Union, marriages may be legally 
contracted between negroes and whites, but public opinion would 
stigmatize a man who should connect himself with a negress, as infa- 
mous, and it would be difficult to meet with a single instance of such 
a union. 

In the South, where slavery still exists, the negroes are less care- 
fully kept apart ; they sometimes share the labor and the recreations 
of the whites ; the whites consent to intermix with them to a certain 
extent, and although the legislation treats them more harshly, the hab- 
its of the people are more tolerant and compassionate. 

In the South, the master is not afraid to raise his slave to his own 
standing, because he knows that he can in a moment reduce him to 
the dust at pleasure. In the North, the white man no longer dis- 
tinctly perceives the barrier which separates him from the degraded 
race, and he shuns the negroes with the more pertinacity, because he 
fears- lest they should some day be confounded together. Thus it 
is in the United States, that the prejudice which repels the negroes 
seems to increase in proportion as they are emancipated, and inequality 
is sanctioned by the manners, while it is effaced by the laws, of the 
country. 




28 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

I am obliged to confess that I do not regard the abolition of slavery 
as a means of warding off the struggle of the two races in the United 
States. The negroes may long remain slaves without complaining, 
but if they are once raised to the level of freemen, they will soon 
revolt at being deprived of their civil rights ; and as they cannot 
become the equals of the whites, they will speedily declare themselves 
as enemies. In the North everything contributes to facilitatethe eman- 
cipation of the slave ; and slavery was abolished without placing the 
free negroes in a position which could become formidable, since their 
number was too small for them ever to claim the exercise of their 
rights. But such is not the case in the South. The question of 
slavery was a question of commerce and manufacture for the slave 
owners in the North ; for those of the South it is a question of life 
and death. 

When I contemplate the condition of the South, I can only dis- /\ 
cover two alternatives which may be adopted by the white inhabitants 
of those States, viz : either to emancipate the negroes and to intermingle 
with them, or remaining isolated from them, to keep them in a state of 
slavery as long as possible. All intermediate measures seem to me likely 
to terminate, and that shortly, in the most horrible of civil wars, and 
perhaps in the extirpation of one or other of the two races. 

When the Europeans chose the slaves from a race differing from 
their own, which many of them considered as inferior to the other 
races of mankind, and which they all repelled with horror from any 
notion of intimate connection, they must have believed that slavery 
would last forever, since there is no intermediate state which can be 
desirable between the excessive inequality produced by servitude, and 
the complete equality which originates in independence. The 
Europeans did imperfectly feel this truth, but without acknowledging 
it even to themselves. Whenever they have had to do with negroes, 
their conduct has either been dictated by their interest and their pride, 
or by their compassion. They first violated every right of humanity 
by their treatment of the negro, and they afterwards informed him 
those rights were precious and inviolable. They affected to open their 
ranks to the slaves, but the negroes who attempted to penetrate into 
the community were driven back with scorn. 

If it be impossible to anticipate a period at which the Americans of 
the South will mingle their blood with that of the negroes, can they 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 29 

allow their slaves to become free without compromising their own 
security ? And if they are obliged to keep that race in bondage in 
order to save their own families, may they not be excused for availing 
themselves of the means best adapted to that end ? — Democracy in 
America, page 388, American edition. 

These must be received as the conclusions of one 
who entertaining strong prejudices against slavery, 
visited the Southern States with the view of finding 
proofs in corroboration of his theory. He permitted 
his enlightened and comprehensive mind to be 
biassed by a distorted conception of its evils, yet with 
all his undisguised hostility, he is constrained not- 
withstanding to express his conviction, founded upon 
facts, reason and observation, that any change in the 
relative condition of the European and African races 
in America would be fatal to both. 

The prejudices of this distinguished author were 
against slavery as a system of labor, not against the slave- 
holder. Hence while his opinions in reference to the 
former were moulded in conformity with these preju- 
dices, he was not indisposed to do justice to the latter. 
His inclination was without crushing the slave holder 
to elevate the slave — differing in this essential particu- 
lar from modern abolition philanthropy which, with- 
out any special desire to elevate the slave, seeks only 
to reduce the master to that standard. 



LETTER II. 

Reasons why Slavery could not be Abolished and proofs that it 
should not have been Abolished— Emancipation would make the 
condition of the Slaves worse — The Abolitionists cannot accom- 
plish their purposes even with the assent of the Slaveholders — 
Slavery was Abolished in the North by selling the Slaves to the 
South. 

The institution of slavery, as we have seen, was a 
legacy, whether for good or evil, left to the United 
States of America by their former sovereign. As 
slaves, the Africans were transferred from the king- 
dom of Great Britain to the new Republics, and as 
slaves they were thereafter held. Whether or not 
slavery is right or wrong in the abstract, the slave 
States found themselves in the presence of an exist- 
ing contingency, which, as before said, left them no 
alternative but to adopt, and endeavor to make avail- 
able to their interests, an institution which they 
might wisely direct, but which they could not 
abolish. 

No one who desired to witness the successful 
establishment of the new Government could have 
regarded with any other" feeling than distrust, any 
attempt to elevate these slaves to the condition of 
free citizens. The instinct of self-preservation, and 
a dawning perception of the sublime destiny which, 
in the not distant future, would attend the develop- 
ment of that great country, alike forbade such an 

(30) 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 31 

unhallowed amalgamation. And the beginning of 
that dawn is now before the world. The wisdom 
of that decision, without even considering the 
necessitv which left them no other alternative, is al- 
ready apparent. "Where there is so much to admire ; 
so much for which, as a people, we have reason to 
be proud, how can the true friend of America seek 
to plunge into that vortex of abolitionism from 
which we could only hope to escape through dis- 
aster and a sea of blood ? 

Here the defender of American slavery might 
pause in the presence of that necessity which al- 
lowed no discretion or choice in regard to the con- 
tinuance of slavery, and submit the question, with- 
out argument, to any unprejudiced umpire. What- 
ever might be the predilections of just men sitting in 
judgment, however their sensibilities may have 
been excited by works of fiction, by falsehood or by 
caricatured truth, the decision could not be other- 
wise than that slavery inaugurated in the United 
States by its former sovereign was perpetuated by 
the Eepublic under the ruling of an inexorable 
necessity. 

But even this impregnable fortress of defence is 
weak in comparison with others which have been 
erected by the dominant race upon which the duty 
has devolved of directing and controlling the insti- 
tution which they thus inherited. 

Was slavery under British auspices a crime in its 
inception, and a curse in its perpetuation ? America 
has converted it through the fruits of its labor into a 
2 



32 LETTERS ON SLALERY. 



* ' 



blessing to mankind ! Was slavery cruel ? America 
has made it merciful! Did British cupidity drag 
,i the unhappy African from his native land, and con- 

r^ sign him to eternal servitude? American practical 
philanthropy has given to the involuntary exile a 
home, better far than he or his ancestors had ever 
known. America found in the slave which she in- 
herited a savage, and she has civilized him ! She 
v found him a heathen, and she has Christianized 
***• him ! She found him naked and starving, and she 
has clothed and fed him ! Slave though he be, yet 
in all that concerns his comfort, plrysical well-being, 
and contentment — in every thing save the name, 
the condition of the slaves of the United States, as 
admitted even by the enemies of the institution, is 
far in advance of that of anJ T similar number of 

, y laborers following similar occupations, in any other 

«] ;;* land under the sun. 
v^ Before proceeding to refer more in detail to facts 
concerning the existing condition of the African 
race in America — or before making an exhibit of 
^ some of the chief benefits which have resulted to 
mankind through the immediate instrumentality of 
African slavery in America, let it, for a moment, be 
assumed as granted that the abolition party has so 
far achieved its purpose as to convince even the 
slaveholder that slavery should cease to exist. What 
measures shall be instituted to accomphish the 
result ? 

It will be an approximation sufficiently near, to 
estimate the slave population at about four millions. 



I WM B BlW^. j U j tMWWM. ' W* 1 "' *" 






LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 33 

The present money value of slaves in the prime of 
life would probably not fall short of eleven hundred 
dollars each. The average value may therefore be 
set down at about five hundred dollars each. This 
would make the grand total value of the entire 
slave population, tioenty hundred millions of dollars! 

It is not pretended that of this number five hun- 
dred have been placed in that position by the present 
owners, or I might say, by the present generation. 
They have been bought and paid for by the present 
possessors or their ancestors, under the operation 
and guarantee of the laws of the land. The slave 
owner of to-day had no more instrumentality in the 
enactment of these laws, than he had in the estab- 
lishment of the institution of slavery. Both had 
their origin at a time when the country was under 
the exclusive dominion of Great Britain. 

The slave-holder has thus become possessed of 
his property under all the solemn sanctions of the 
law. If a wrong has been done, it dates back 
to a period long anterior to his birth, and even be- 
fore the existence of the Republic itself. He holds 
his slave by virtue of the same system of laws which 
entitles a citizen to the possession of any other de- 
scription of property, and he cannot justly be de- 
prived of its use without adequate compensation. 

A single State in the vicinity of other slave-hold- 
ing States, may enact laws fixing upon a stated period 
after which slavery shall not exist. In this man- 
ner, slavery has been already abolished in the 
[Northern or colder latitudes of the American 



34 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

Union. But in every case the slave-holder has been 
able to protect himself against pecuniary loss by 
transferring his slaves into States where the institu- 
tion still existed. Although by this means the insti- 
tution of slavery has been abolished in many of the 
States, yet the slaves themselves were transferred to a 
different locality, and they and their descendants are at 
this day in bondage. 

The abolition of slavery therefore in the present 
free States of the Confederacy, involved no pecuni- 
ary loss to the citizens who were their owners ; nor 
did it change, in the smallest degree, the position of 
those who were then and there held in bondage. 
They only changed their masters and their homes. But 
in considering the question of the abolition of 
slavery throughout the entire Confederacy, with a 
view to the emancipation of the slaves, it assumes 
proportions of much graver magnitude. Not a sin- 
gle State of the American Union which has enacted 
laws prohibiting slavery within its limits, ever con- 
templated that the act of emancipation would cost 
its citizens a single dollar, or give freedom to a 
single slave. The object of the change which it was 
deemed desirable to accomplish, had reference 
solely to what was regarded as the interests of the 
dominant race. The rhetorical and poetical ef- 
fusions which attended the discussion of the ques- 
tion, were of course signalized by the usual protes- 
tations of philanthropy, humanity, and benevolence ; 
but the arguments of controlling potency were, that 
slavery had ceased to be profitable in a pecuniary 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 35 

way — that the climate was not adapted to that des- 
cription of labor — that the change could be effected 
without cost — and that an act of emancipation was 
in reality but the recognition of an existing fact ; for 
the reason that the laws of trade had already trans- 
ferred the mass of the slaves to the warmer latitude 
of the South. By the provisions of the law, ample 
time was allowed to effect the transportation of the 
slaves, as slaves, to a more congenial soil. 

It may fairly be assumed that this measure did 
not have for its object any vindication of the "un- 
alienable rights of man," or the eradication of the 
system of slave labor; else, instead of abolishing 
the institution in such manner as to afford time and 
opportunity to sell the slaves in a foreign market, 
steps would have been taken to secure their emanci- 
pation, even at the expense of a small tax upon 
the citizens. This could have been accomplished 
at a comparatively trifling cost, for the self-estab- 
lished laws of interest, more potent even in their 
moral influence that statutary enactments, had al- 
ready, as before stated, caused the great body of the 
Africans to be transported from the colder latitudes 
of the North, to the more genial temperature of a 
Southern sun. Thus, only a comparatively small 
number of slaves remained to be affected by the act 
of emancipation. Cheaply as the Northern States 
might then have vindicated the doctrine of " equal 
rights," the cost, small as it would have been, was 
deemed too great. And happy as was the conjunc- 
ture, for practically testing upon a small scale the 



36 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

capacity of the African for self-government, and the 
mingling together of the two races in a common 
brotherhood, the opportunity and the occasion 
passed away forever. 

The connection is not inopportune to ask from well 
meaning and honorable citizens of the North, an 
answer to some questions which here naturally 
suggest themselves. 

If you would not expend hundreds of dol- 
lars, in giving freedom to your handful of slaves, 
how can you now ask that the South should expend 
millions, in giving freedom to her multitudes ? If 
you dared not hazard the experiment of conferring 
equal political rights upon only thousands of Africans, 
how can you ask the Southern States to grant such 
privileges to four millions of slaves ? If you could 
not fix upon any intermediate condition between 
absolute slavery and citizenship, for a number so 
small as scarcely to be estimated in the aggregate of 
your population, and thus allow of their remaining 
within your own States, how can you ask the South 
to place all her vital interests at hazard by the semi- 
enfranchisement of slaves, equal in number to one 
half of her free citizens ? If by the operation of 
your laws the South became the purchasers of your 
slaves, how can you desire to compass her destruc- 
tion for the sin of slavery ? But above all, if you 
found slavery " a political evil and a sin," and by the 
transportation of your slaves to the Southern States 
relieved yourself of that "evil," and abandoned the 
practice of that "sin," how can you now require 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 37 

that slavery in the South shall be perpetuated by re- 
fusing to it any outlet f How can you claim that 
the descendants of the slaves you sold in the Southern 
markets shall remain in perpetuity where you have ■ 
thus placed them ? How can you deny to those who 
have purchased them, the same privilege which was 
accorded to you of abolishing, or rather banishing 
the institution of slavery from their midst, whenever 
the laws of self-interest teach them that it is not philan- 
thropic to hold their fellow-creatures in bondage ? 

But to return from this digression. It is manifest 
that the abolition of slavery in the United States 
under existing circumstances, would involve the 
entire loss of the total value of the slaves. How 
and by whom is this immense sum to be expended? 
~No undue proportion thereof could upon any princi- 
ple of justice or morality be charged upon those who 
may happen at the moment of emancipation, to be 
in the legal possession of the slaves. It cannot 
therefore be compromised by permitting them to 
iretain an estate for life, or for a limited term of years, 
in the services of the slaves or their descendants. 
The laws by virtue of which they hold them as pro- 
perty guarantee the possession of them and their 
posterity forever; and they might with equal justice 
be limited to the enjoyment of an estate for life in 
the land or the homestead purchased or inherited in 
fee simple from their ancestors, as to be deprived of 
any part of their interest in the slave. 

The question then still reverts : how is the cost 
value of the slave to be remunerated to the owner ? 



38 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

Granting the interest of Great Britain, and seeing 
that she would be the greatest beneficiary from a 
slow but certain system of gradual emancipation, 
how much would her Government contribute to this 
achievement of humanity ? How much would her 
factory operatives be willing to be taxed for the 
accomplishment of a work, one of the first effects 
of which would be to take from their own mouths 
the scanty fare which is the wages of their daily 
toil ? How much would the anti-slavery aristocracy 
contribute to the accomplishment of an object which 
seems to fill so large a space in their bosoms ? 

An aristocracy which bestows the cheap tribute 
of its tears upon the African in the remote wilds of 
the New World, on the other side of the great 
Atlantic, but which fails to see, or seeing, fails to 
offer its sympathy to the suffering, half-clad, half- fed 
millions at home, to whom, in recompense for their 
daily toil, is eked out the miserable pittance which 
is barely sufficient to supply the commonest demands 
of nature. 

But it would be unprofitable to occupy time in 
considering the means necessary to the accomplish- 
ment of that, which a single glance suffices to show 
is impossible. The loss could not be made up to the 
owner, nor any part thereof bearing any commen- 
surate proportion to the entire value. It becomes 
necessary, therefore, in order to carry out our 
hypothesis, that the slave-owner, either by force or 
moral conviction, has agreed to surrender all his 
pecuniary interests, and submit to the ruin which 



"•Sfc^i 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 39 

would be entailed upon him by the destruction of 
all his property. Having consummated the act of 
emancipation by this enormous pecuniary sacrifice, 
we have but entered upon the threshold of the diffi- 
culties by which, to the eye of real philanthropy, the 
whole question is environed. 

What must be done with these four millions of 
liberated African slaves ? g> 

Honest and well-meaning persons have said, with- 
out considering of the necessary means, " Transports L 
them to the land from whence their ancestors were/* 
wrested by Great Britain !" This, however, would 
be physically impossible. But even if it could be 
accomplished, it would be an act of inhumanity, 
involving a thousand-fold more suffering than the 
worst form of slavery as now existing, to say 
nothing of the violence which it would be neces- 
sary to employ in order to force the freed man from 
the scenes of his former servitude. 

This scheme failing, we are left without other 
alternative than to provide for their future abode in 
the land where their destiny has been cast. What, 
then, should be their political position in regard to 
their former masters ? What privileges should be 
bestowed, and what withheld ? Should they be ad- 
mitted, either immediately or in the contemplation 
of the future, to a social or political equality with 
the European races ? 

As already declared, this could never be. The 
prejudices, the instincts of the latter, are all opposed 
to such an association. Nature itself revolts againsT 






* 



40 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

the unnatural amalgamation, and education has ren- 
dered the antipathy ineradicable. Heaven itself 
has marked upon the brow of the African the seal 
of inferiority ; and no laws, however stringent — no 
physical power, however great, could enforce upon 
the whites the recognition of such an equality. To 
believe that they could do so, is first to suppose 
them already degraded. 

Eone but an enemy to the dominant race, or an 
impracticable dreamer, could wish to witness such 
a consummation. The theory of the universal 
equality of all the races of mankind is most beauti- 
ful and attractive to the merely speculative mind ; 
but when it is attempted to enforce it in the prac- 
tical affairs of life, it is found to be a fallacy and a 
delusion. 

Rejecting, then, this adjustment as unwise, unna- 
tural, unjust, and finally impossible, there remains 
but one other alternative, and that is, while confer- 
ring upon them personal freedom from the re- 
straints of servitude, and of a master legally au- 
thorized to control them, and give direction to their 
labor, to withhold from them the political rights 
accorded to other citizens. We have already con- 
sidered the manifest inconsistency and danger of 
recognizing two sets of citizens, with unequal privi- 
leges, by a government which has for its corner-stone 
the principle of entire equality for all who have a 
right to be called citizens. 

But would not such an enfranchisement, in its 
practical results, prove to be a most cruel kindness ? 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 41 

As a slave, lie would have at least the protection of 
one master interested in his welfare ; as a freedman, 
almost beyond the pale of governmental protection, 
Avith no one to take care of him, of a despised and 
inferior race, a stranger in a land of strangers, how 
miserable would be his fate ! Even if every obsta- 
cle to the consummation of such a result were re- 
moved, philanthropy might well pause before con- 
ferring the boon of freedom at such a hazard. 

As a slave, he would have but one master, whose 
duty and whose interest it would be to clothe, to 
feed, and to protect him in youth and in old age, 
in sickness and in health. As a freed African, he 
would have many masters, but none who would feel 
any interest in his welfare. He would live miserably 
from the cradle to the grave, despised of all, and 
shunned by every one ; and it is impossible for the 
practically benevolent mind to conceive how in any 
single respect his physical, moral, or social condition 
would be improved by this nominal change in his 
relations towards the more powerful race. On the 
contrary, the practical reasoner cannot resist the con- 
clusion, that in all things his condition would be 
essentially worse. 

It is thus discovered, by an investigation of the 
subject of slavery in America, and an analysis of its 
present condition, with a single eye to its abolition, 
that upon every hand we are met by obstacles beyond 
the power of man to obviate ; and that no^ material 
change can be effected in the present status of the 
slave, without entailing far more deplorable evils 




42 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

than those which it would be proposed to remedy. 
Even after we have arrived at the point where all 
interests would acquiesce in any practicable scheme 
of emancipation, it is apparent that it would be im- 
possible. 

Whether for good or for evil, the institution of 
slavery exists, and will continue to exist, in some form 
or another, so long a3 the European and African races 
occupy together the same territory, or until some 
overruling power from without reduces both to a 
common subjection. Furthermore, whether or not 
it will be the fate of the white race, whose destiny 
has been cast with the transplanted Africans, to be 
held responsible for the existence of slavery, they 
\ will at least bear within them the consciousness, 
"that for the offence, if it be one in reality, they are 
wholly free from a just responsibility. 

But if slavery is a thing so detestable, why should 
not the friends of humanity utter their imprecations 
against those who entailed it upon mankind, rather 
than against the present generation of slaveowners, 
who have been obliged to adapt themselves to an 
existing reality, and who have only given direction 
to an institution which they had no agency in 
creating, and which they had not the power to 
eradicate ? But, above all, how stupendous is the 
wrong of those who, from motives the most sordid, 
entailed slavery upon the Southern States of the 
American Union, now from motives even less com- 
mendable, thrust themselves forward as the great 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 43 

champions of human liberty and universal emanci- 
pation ! 

I have only adopted this train of argument, and 
have for the moment acquiesced in the extreme 
views of the Abolitionist, in order that we might, 
without disagreement, follow out his schemes of 
emancipation in any direction which his inclination 
or his judgment might direct; and we have seen 
that whatever path he follows, he encounters evils 
of far greater magnitude than those which he seeks 
to eradicate. But I would be doing injustice to the 
Southern slaveholder — injustice to the benefits which 
the system of slave labor has conferred upon man- 
kind — injustice to that overruling Providence which 
ordains all the institutions of man, were I to rest the 
defence of the Southern States of America upon any 
other foundation than that of having worthily em- 
ployed the means .which .have been placed in their 
hands for the purpose of promoting the welfare aud 
happiness of mankind. 



i.- 



/ 




LETTER III. 

Gasification of the Adversaries of Slavery in the Southern States — 
The London Times on the causes of English Opposition to Slavery 
— What position would England occupy towards the Belligerents, if 
the Republican Party should attempt to carry its measures into effect 
— Would the South hesitate about defending herself to the last 
extremity ? 

Before instituting an inquiry into the advantages 
and disadvantages which have resulted to mankind 
from the judicious employment of slave labor in the 
Southern States of the American Union, it would 
be well to classify the different parties or interests, 
which are at the present day banded together in hos- 
tile array against the States of the South, and which 
are now combined in support of the Republican 
party, each with the hope of accomplishing its own 
special purpose. To know who are the parties to a 
controversy, often materially assists in directing the 
mind to correct conclusions in regard to the merits 
of the controversy itself. If a known adversary or 
rival urges me to perform an act, which he declares 
will result in great benefit to me, but which I per- 
ceive will be much more likely to yield advantages 
to him, I may be pardoned for at least postponing 
any action which would produce such result. 

The anti-slavery party of Great Britain is con- 
ceded to be at the head of the hostile movement 
directed against the planting States of the South. 
(44) 



LETTERS ON S LA VERY. 45 

Its partisans in America say that in this, their allies 
of England are influenced solely by considerations 

of philanthropy, benevolence, and an inborn love of 
freedom. 

The plain, out- spoken matter of fact index of 
British public sentiment, the London Times, fur- 
nishes in a late number, in brief but emphatic lan- 
guage the key which affords an insight into the real 
motives that are thus slightly veiled under the 
assumed garb of benevolence and philanthropy. In 
discussing "the importance of tropical productions as 
an auxiliary to British wealth and power, the Times 
says r 

Now in England we say that the slave trade shall no longer be per- 
mitted to be carried on in any quarter of the globe, if by negotiation, 
or by arms it can be repressed. In the case of the United States, in- 
deed, we are compelled to content ourselves with the assurance that 
the American cruisers will do the work. Will any one, however, say 
that it is not mainly owing to the ceaseless exertions, to the philanthro- 
pic energy, to the entreaties, to the persuasions of this country, that the 
anti- slavery party in the States owes its strength. Blot out England, and 
English sympathies, and English power from the map of the world, and 
the battle between the North and the South would be fought on the other 
side of the Atlantic on very different terms. Slavery shall not be in our 
own dominions, nor the slave trade anywhere if we can help it. Could 
we bave gone a step farther and annihilated the peculiar institution 
in all other countries, as well as in our own, the problem would, in the 
main, have speedily received a satisfactory solution. This, however, 
was beyond our power, and consequently we find ourselves in this 
anomaly, that we without a slave population must compete in the mar- 
kets of the world, with other countries which have slave populations, 
and that with respeet to tropical productions. 

This brief extract from the great London organ, 
discloses the foundation upon which rests the hos- 



46 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

tility of the Abolition party of England to slavery 
in America. The purpose they seek to accomplish 
for their already rich and powerful country is, more 
riches and more power for England, with a corres- 
ponding diminution of riches and power for the 
American Confederacy. They propose, under the 
broad banner of philanthropy, to strike a fatal blow 
at the advancing wealth and power of a nation, which, 
although yet in its infancy, is the rival in both, of 
the greatest among the great powers of the world. 
These objects are pursued with a persistency and a 
determination which never wearies nor falters. 

There is no nation on earth whose inexorable 
policy is more sharply defined, or more thoroughly 
understood, than that of Great Britain. To subdue 
the world to her will, and to make herself the arbiter 
of the destinies of all; to dictate terms on which the 
existence of other nations will be tolerated ; to as- 
sume a general surveillance of the whole, and to in- 
terpose obstacles to the greatness and power of those 
whom she may regard as rivals ; all are embraced 
within that comprehensive policy which she has pur- 
sued with a success as marvellous, as her efforts have 
been persistent. The measure of her zeal in the 
support of any cause, is the measure of the interests 
she has involved in the issue, and any other nation 
may well pause and consider of the probable con- 
sequences, which are likely to result, before accom- 
plishing changes in its internal policy which she may 
suggest. 

It may with truth be said, that the Government 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 47 

of Great Britain, while conferring upon the inhabi- 
tants of her own " fast anchored isle," the priceless 
boon of constitutional liberty has done as little 
voluntarily to promote the growth of free institu- 
tions in other lands, as any absolute despotism or 
sham republic that has existed during her whole 
career of greatness. With an aristocracy so en- 
lightened, and so capable of performing from 
habit and education, the high functions it is called 
upon to exercise ; with a population, which among 
the better classes, illustrates in an emineut degree, 
many of the virtues and noble qualities which adorn 
human nature, and which among the masses, is 
characterized by its industry in peace, and its sterling 
qualities in war ; the Government itself, in its prac- 
tical bearing and conduct towards the rest of the 
world, has seldom exhibited those characteristics 
of justice and magnanimity, which so eminently 
in private life distinguish her people. The obli- 
gations of treaties have been too often regarded as 
of binding force, only so long as they were subser- 
vient to her purposes. Countries have been con- 
quered only to be plundered. She puts forth her 
strength to stifle the growing power of other nations, 
or to build up a weaker nation on the ruins or at the 
expense of a formidable rival, only that her own 
supremacy or relative greatness may be maintained. 
Her career of conquest has been too often marked 
by the tears and blood, and practical servitude 
of those whom she has subjected. And in all the 
catalogue of weaker powers which have fallen before 



48 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

her victorious arms, there is not an instance upon 
record, out of the millions whom she has subdued, 
in which she has permitted the enjoyment of that 
freedom and liberty of which she so proudly boasts 
herself to be the champion and exponent. The 
vices which a sound morality condems have been 
too often criminal in her eyes, only when they could 
not be made available to the accomplishment of her 
policy — oppression only a wrong when practiced by 
others — freedom and independence, boons which 
none but the inhabitants of her own favored isle 
were worthy to enjoy. 

In considering the only political issue involved in 
the present life-and- death struggle of the geogra- 
phical sections in America — the one for political 
supremacy — the other to retain the control of its 
own domestic institutions — it is impossible for us to 
lose sight of the ever-present reality, that the adver- 
saries of the South are fighting the battle under the 
leadership of the political anti-slavery party of Great 
Britain. Although it is not to be supposed that the 
object of the great body of Americans who are en- 
listed in that conflict is primarily to achieve a tri- 
umph of British policy in the Republic, yet such 
would be the effect of a successful effort to impair 
by degrees and finally to destroy the institution of 
slavery in the Southern American States. But 
whatever may be the motives by which the great 
anti-slavery party of England may be governed, 
however inconsistent may be their present attitude 
with that which Great Britain has in times past 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 49 

occupied, we are met face to face with the undeni- 
able truth, that this party is to-day the leader of the 
anti-slavery movement against the Southern States. 
It is a fact, that its immense moral and social 
influence has been and is still exercised with the 
view to create and to foster a public opinion through- 
out the civilized world adverse to the slave States 
of the Confederacy. And it is also true, that 
mainly through its instrumentality, and under its 
recognized leadership, a party has grown up hostile 
to the existing institution of American slavery and 
to the slaveholders, not only in Europe, but in the 
Northern States of the Confederacy, formidable in 
numbers, respectability, and influence. That this 
anti-slavery organization in England should succeed 
in attracting to its views, and in infusing prejudices 
into the minds of others, where they, the unrelent- 
ing assailants, are always present, and where those 
who are assailed have no available means of defence, 
should not be a matter of surprise. But they even 
penetrate into the Confederacy itself, and there, as 
elsewhere, infuse the poison of their principles into 
the hearts of native citizens of the Eepublic. At 
first glance this may seem strange and most un- 
natural ; but a brief consideration of facts will ex- 
hibit the secret of that influence which preponde- 
rates over all the incentives of personal interest, as 
well as the promptings of patriotism. 

The American Revolution, which destroyed the 
political supremacy of Great Britain over her re- 
volted provinces, did not wholly obliterate that 



50 LETTERS OK SLAVERY. 

moral influence which she very naturally exercised 
over a portion of the citizens. It would be an 
error to suppose that the entire population of Ame- 
rica desired to witness the successful accomplish- 
ment of the Revolution. There was during the 
entire war of independence a formidable party which 
still adhered to its allegiance to the mother country; 
and while they were forced to submit to a result 
which they could not prevent, they only acquiesced 
because they were powerless to resist. Their poli- 
tical allegiance was changed, but their attachment 
to the government from which they had been sev- 
ered continued. The remnant and the descendants 
of this party, silent during the interval of peace 
which followed the close of the Revolutionary war, 
again made itself manifest in the last war between 
the Republic and Great Britain. They were still 
sufficiently numerous to paralyze the strength of 
the General Government in some of the New Eng- 
land States. That contest concluded, they have 
since been active in the effort to establish the policy 
of Great Britain in reference to slavery in the 
Southern States of the Confederacy. 

This party may be regarded, for manifest reasons, 
the most formidable of all the internal enemies of 
the Southern States. It acts upon no convictions 
of abstract right, but merely as the exponent of 
British interests and British policy ; therefore, no 
facts, no arguments, however conclusive, can divert 
it^from its purpose. Its hostility is not founded 
upon fanaticism, and therefore does not thwart its 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 51 

own purposes by its madness. Its opposition to 
slavery does not grow out of any desire to establish 
universal political equality, or to bring about im- 
practicable social reforms ; and hence does not ex- 
cite either ridicule or contempt by its folly or its 
wickedness. Guided and directed by the single 
purpose of conforming itself to the will of Great 
Britain, it cannot be overcome or diverted from its 
purpose by any of the ordinary methods which may 
be used to convince an adversary of error. Form- 
idable not so much in numbers as intelligence, it 
artfully combines the various and incongruous ele- 
ments of opposition and moulds them to its pur- 
poses. Embracing a large proportion of literary 
men — professors in colleges and other educational 
institutions — this party has not only the advantage 
of presenting the cause of England in its most 
attractive garb, but of instilling its unpatriotic 
principles in the minds of the rising generation. 

In order to account for the fact that Great Bri- 
tain has been able to enlist in her interest so large 
a proportion of the literary men of New England, 
it must be borne in mind, that from the nature of 
their pursuits, they look with a sort of reverence 
upon England as the great fountain of English lite- 
rature. They read English books, adopt English 
ideas, become imbued with English prejudices, and 
hence regard with partial vision all which emanates 
from that source. As the votaries of Fashion 
throughout the world cut their apparel, shape their 
hats, adjust their hair, and tie their cravats, accord- 



52 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

ing to the dictum of the mantua-makers, milliners, 
and tailors of Paris, so does the class of literary 
men referred to, fashion its phrases and model its 
ideas according to the received standard in Great 
Britain. 

When we consider the secret springs of human 
actions and the natural tendencies of the human 
mind, we cease to be surprised, if we have enter- 
tained such a feeling, that in a country whose poli- 
tical ties have been so recently severed from ano- 
ther, and where unrestricted liberty of opinion is 
allowed to all, there should linger an attachment, 
amongst at least a portion of its inhabitants, for the 
institutions, the policy, the ideas of the fatherland. 

It is under the intelligent direction of this class 
that the crude and fanatical ideas of the ultra 
schools of social reformers, which spring up through 
the immunity afforded by free government, are di- 
verted from their impracticable, general designs, to 
the special purpose of swelling the power of those 
who are adverse to the domestic institutions of the 
Southern States. 

This last class constitutes the great body of those 
who desire, from perhaps honest and conscientious, 
though mistaken motives of philanthropy, to sub- 
vert the institution of southern slavery, because its 
existence conflicts with the Utopian principles upon 
which they think that mankind should be governed. 
Their ostensible aim and real purpose is the same. 
However much it may be regretted that the latter 
will permit themselves to be the blinded instru- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 53 

ments of gain-seeking men — however we may la- 
ment that obliquity of mental vision which would 
risk the hazard of so much evil for the doubtful 
prospect of achieving a little of good — still it would 
be unjust to deny or to doubt the sincerity of their 
convictions. 

There is still another class in the IsTorthern States 
of the Federal Union who engage in the clamor 
against what they denominate the "slave power," 
whose seeming opposition scarcely needs to be com- 
mented upon in enumerating the real antagonists 
of the institution of slavery, because their design is 
not in reality to destroy slavery, but to acquire a poli- 
tical supremacy over the slave States, and to share 
with the planters the profits of slave labor. I refer, of 
course, to the great manufacturing interests of ISTew 
England, and, I may add, Pennsylvania. Wealthy 
beyond any other class, and employing their wealth 
in such manner as to give them great political con- 
sideration, they exercise a powerful, and, I might 
say, a controlling influence in all local elections. 

To a full understanding of the motives which 
impel this class of citizens to seem to seek what in 
reality they do not desire, a brief reference to the 
industrial pursuits of the different sections is neces- 
sary. The political power of the Confederacy may 
in general terms be said to be divided into two 
great classes, to wit : Manufacturers and Agricul- 
turists. Upon any political question involving the 
interests of these, the other classes range themselves 



54 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

upon the one side or the other, as their interests, 
principles, or inclinations may suggest. 

It has ever been the aim of the manufacturing 
interests to enforce, under various pretences, the 
payment of a portion of the earnings of the agri- 
culturists into their coffers. Under the popular dis- 
guise of "protection to home productions," this 
system for a long time prevailed ; and to this day 
; our statute-books are disfigured by the relics of this 
most unjust system of forcing one class to contri- 
bute of their earnings to the wealth of another 
class. The doctrine of "protection" became unpo- 
pular with the agriculturists in proportion as its 
true merits were discussed and understood. How- 
ever the sacrifice they were called upon to make 
might be urged by appeals to their patriotism, an 
enlightened understanding could not fail to per- 
ceive that the real effect of such a system was to 
take away from the gainings of their labor, in order 
to add to the wealth of those who were already 
much richer than themselves. The numerical 
strength in this contest was in favor of the agricul- 
turist, and in process of time the system fell into 
disfavor and into partial disuse. 

For the manufacturers to wage a contest against 
such superior numbers, upon the direct issue, would 
be fruitless, because the combined South and West 
— both alike interested in protecting agriculture 
from such an unjust burden of taxes — would be able 
at all times to offer a successful resistance. The 
crusade against slavery, on the part of New England 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 55 

manufacturers, was designed, therefore, to detach the 
great agricultural interests of the free States in the West 
from their natural allies, the Southern States ; and thus, 
by dividing the adversaries of their favorite system, 
and creating between them an irreconcilable feud 
upon a collateral issue, conquer them in detail. 
Having wrought up the Western States to the pro- 
per pitch of enthusiasm against the existence of 
"the great sin," the manufacturers say "the best 
means of eradicating this evil is to build up the 
North at the expense of the South, by means of a 
protective tariff;" and they call upon the Western 
States to "submit to a small pecuniary sacrifice," 
for the attainment of so desirable a result. To the 
South they can say: "See arrayed against you the 
moral power of Great Britain, exerting its ramified 
influence throughout the civilized world. Add to 
this the overwhelming numerical and political 
strength of the North and the West. It is not our 
wish to destroy you ; therefore, give us the protec- 
tion we claim for our manufactures : that is, give us 
two bales of cotton of every ten you produce, and 
one-fifth of your annual products of wheat, and 
rice, and Indian corn, and we will find means to 
allay the storm which is ready to engulf you in 
irretrievable ruin." 

The scheme has been, unhappily for the interests 
of agriculture, but too successful. The protection- 
ists have succeeded in attracting to their standard a 
large support in the western free States, where once 
the doctrine of free trade had complete ascendency; 



56 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

while the South, if she remains in the Union in the 
face of this overwhelmingly hostile array, which 
seems resolved to compass her destruction, is 
rapidly drifting to her only alternative of purchas- 
ing peace at the sacrifice demanded. 

Considering the facts referred to, it would appear 
to be an error to suppose that the manufacturers, as 
a class, are in reality endeavoring to achieve the 
destruction of the institution of slavery. They 
only seek, through a protective tariff, to divide with 
the planters the earnings of slave labor ; and they 
assail slavery with the view of making allies and 
instruments of the agricultural States of the West." 

Is there not clanger that, in thus "sowing the 
wind, they may reap the whirlwind ?" It is easy to 
stimulate, but difficult to allay, the angry passions 
of mankind. A child may kindle a conflagration 
in mere wantonness, which a host may not after- 
wards be able to suppress. The voice of one gifted 
demagogue may incite a listening and attentive 

* Since the foregoing was written, there has occurred a striking 
verification of the opinion here expressed. Almost upon the instant 
of the withdrawal of a large number of Southern Representatives 
and Senators from the Congress, the anti-slavery party, being thus 
left in a majority, adopted the "Morrill Tariff" Bill," which, for its 
violation of every principle of free trade, and for its highly protec- 
tive character, is unparalleled in the history of modern legislation 
anywhere in the civilized world. The controlling purpose of the 
political anti-slavery party which now holds possession of the Gene- 
ral Government appears to be, to deny to the South the privilege of 
commercial intercourse with any portion of the "world beyond the 
limits of the Northern States, and thus to monopolize the lion's 
share of the profits of slave labor. 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 57 

mob to deeds of violence and blood, which, once 
commenced, no eloquence could arrest. May it not 
be apprehended that, even in the hour of seeming 
success, they may reap a harvest of disappointment ? 
Can the cautious, calculating leaders of the Anglo- 
Hepublican alliance restrain the impetuosity and 
the zeal of the fanatical masses who have been 
attracted to their support by an appeal to passions 
which, in the flush of victory, are only to be grati- 
fied by the immediate enfranchisement of the slave 
and the destruction of the master ? 

Upon the occurrence of any event which would 
leave no room for doubt in the southern mind that 
there existed a settled purpose on the part of the 
powerful free North to employ her political and 
numerical preponderance in destroying the institu- 
tions and the independence of the South, would the 
Southern States hesitate for a single instant longer 
in inaugurating prompt measures for their security 
and protection ? Can it be expected that the South 
would delay until her enemies should have decided 
how and when the impending blow should fall ? 

Let not the peaceably disposed citizens of the 
North delude themselves with such a hope or ex- 
pectation. Self-preservation is the strongest instinct 
•of man's nature; and when the moment above in- 
dicated shall have arrived, if ever, it may fairly be 
assumed that the South will stand forth as a unit in 
defence of her rights, her interests, and her very 
existence as a political power in the State. All 
previously existing differences will disappear, and 



58 LETTEES ON SLAVERY. 

lier united people will then and there demand that 
the battle shall be fought and decided. The issue 
of life or death will have been forced upon her, and 
the result will be the establishment of the inde- 
pendence of the South, or the immediate and un- 
conditional liberation of the slaves. The conflict 
once inaugurated, what horrors may not fill up the 
interval to its bloody close ! 

Where, then, will stand the discordant parties 
and interests which have inaugurated this war upon 
the South ? When the battle would be fiercest, and 
the issue the most doubtful, would England stretch 
forth her arm to aid the I^orth in the accomplish- 
ment of a victory which would strike down at one 
blow that system of labor upon the products of 
which so many millions of her subjects are depend- 
ent for their daily bread? This interrogatory 
may not now be answered. She may hold herself 
in the position of an unfriendly neutrality towards 
both; but the England of to-day would not be the 
England of the past, if she permitted her sympa- 
thies or her sensibilities to divert her from the path 
of her interests. 

As warmly as England has espoused the cause of 
the Republican party, it must not be supposed that 
she desires the immediate abolition of slavery in 
America, for such a consummation would find her 
unprepared to meet the crisis which would follow. 
Hence the British political abolitionists have thrown 
their powerful influence upon the side of the Re- 
publican party, under a tacit agreement and under- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 59 

standing among the leaders of each, that the pro- 
cess of abolitionizing the South shall be sure but 
slow ; thus affording what they believe will be am- 
ple time for Indian tropical productions to be aug- 
mented, as those in the slave States of America 
diminish. 

From this reference to the internal and external 
adversaries of the slave States of America, it will 
be observed that they differ essentially in the imme- 
diate objects which they hope to accomplish when 
their victory shall have been achieved ; and that 
there exists amongst them but a single element or 
class which may be fairly presumed to be actuated 
exclusively by conscientious and philanthropic con- 
victions. This, however, is made up of the radi- 
cals, socialists, agrarians, and fanatics, both in reli- 
gion and politics, to whose madness no response of 
reason would be available, but whose folly would of 
itself defeat their purposes but for the direction 
given to them by other, and cooler, and wiser heads. 

But of all these opposing influences, it cannot be 
questioned that the London Times is right in its 
boastful declaration, that if we were to " blot out 
England, and English sympathies, and English 
power from the map of the world, the battle be- 
tween the North and South would be fought on 
very different terms." The indirect influence of 
the British anti-slavery party in moulding public 
opinion without, and its direct influence within, in 
giving consistency, point, and unity to the efforts 
of those who, whether ignorantly or advisedly, per- 



60 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

form for it the services of friend and allies, render 
it apparent that if the Southern States of the Ame- 
rican Union can defeat the purposes of that party, 
the battle against their enemies is already won. 

I have thus hastily glanced at the different inte- 
rests which are arrayed in hostile attitude against 
the slave States, and I have referred impartially to 
what may be fairly presumed to be the moving 
cause of the opposition of each. In making these 
general classifications, however, I do not mean to 
say that there are not many individual exceptions, 
who are actuated by motives different from those 
which I have assigned as common to the party 
which seeks the overthrow of slavery in the South. 
But it is to be noted that all the enemies of the ex- 
isting institution of slavery in the Southern States 
are from without. The assaults thereon emanate 
from those who live under other governments — 
who are not themselves subject to the evils of which 
they complain, and who may perpetuate the exemp- 
tion by remaining beyond the boundaries of its 
influence. 



LETTEE IV. 

Opposition to abstract Slavery resolved into opposition to Slavery in 
America, without considering the circumstances of its existence — 
Slavery Romances have misled the Public Mind — The manifest in- 
justice of crediting them as History — The attitude of the present 
adversaries of Slavery in times past — Achievements of Slavery. 

It is a truth not to be disguised, that the predomi- 
nating influence of the civilized World at the present 
day is adverse to the existence of slavery. The 
instincts of an enlightened humanity are undenia- 
bly opposed to that condition of society which is 
supposed to exist as a necessary concomitant of 
slavery, and hence many are found to condemn its 
existence without duly considering that when two 
races so different and so unequal as those which in- 
habit the Southern American States are thrown 
together, there cannot be established between them 
the relations which may and should exist between 
different classes of the same race. 

Under the lead and direction of the anti-slavery 
party of Great Britain, this theoretical opposition to 
abstract slavery has been resolved most unjustly 
into a feeling of hostility to the institution known 
under that name, now existing in the United States. 
This feeling of hostility thus patronized by Great 
Britain has received from time to time fresh im- 
pulse from the slanderous publications of British 
tourists, who, like Dickens, have more intellect than 

(61) 



62 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

honesty, and a more ardent desire to reap a harvest 
of gold by pandering to the prejudices and vices of 
their ^readers than the meagre rewards bestowed 
upon those who communicate unpalatable truths. 
Added to these are the productions which, with 
more or less of literary merit, emanate from native 
Americans who desire by this means to ingratiate 
themselves into the favor of the British anti-slavery 
party. It is worthy here of a passing notice that 
the Americans, the most honored by the hereditary 
governing classes ot Europe, and those for whom 
the portals of their feudal mansions are always 
thrown wide open, are those who have merited that 
distinction solely by their virulent assaults upon 
their native land. 

A discriminating mind in estimating the value 
of these productions, should remember that they 
emanate only from those who are wholly unacquainted 
by practical knowledge with the system they pretend to 
explain. They are those whose whole lives have 
been spent in an atmosphere of hostility and hatred 
to the institution, and who have visited for a brief 
period the locality where it existed, not to discover 
truth, but from exaggerated and isolated facts to find 
material for the support of their theory, out of which 
to fashion a "selling book." 

Such have been the productions of the Dickenses 
of England and the Stowes of America. Profess- 
edly illustrating the workings of the institution of 
slavery, all who are familiar with the subject, know 
them to be slanders and libels and caricatures upon 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 63 

truth. Even as monstrous exceptions to the 
general condition of the slave and his master, every 
citizen of a slave State knows that they have no ex- 
istence, except in the pernicious books referred to. 
Every unprejudiced intelligent man who has had oc- 
casion to travel through the Southern States of 
America, has had reason to be astonished at the 
gross deception practiced upon the public by these 
professional horror-mongers. 

But even admitting for the moment, that the 
fictitious characters so happily illustrated in these 
romances, whose imaginary wrongs have caused so 
many tears to flow from sentimental maidens 
and British philanthropists, are the representatives 
of an existing reality ; that they constitute excep- 
tions to the general state of society may be inferred 
from the fact, that a knowledge of their existence 
remained unknown to the oldest inhabitants of the 
slave States, up to the moment when they were en- 
lightened by these productions, the authors of 
which had probably never passed six months in a 
slave State. How unjust to one's self, as well as to 
those who are thus wronged, to estimate the moral 
worth of the Southern States, or even the value of 
the institution of slavery, by these admittedly 
monstrous exceptions. 

The gifted authoress of the most popular and most 
mischievous romance which has ever been published 
upon this subject, shortly after the public judgment 
pronounced her work a most brilliant success, 
visited England, to receive in person the reward to 
3 



64 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

which all acknowledged she was justly entitled at 
the hands of British abolitionists. She was feasted 
and toasted in the aristocratic mansions of ennuied 
Duchesses and received the homage of the most dis- 
tinguished British politicians. She returned after 
a season to her native land, and gave vent to her 
gratitude for the brilliant reception which had been 
accorded to her, by the publication of her "Sunny 
Memories." Suppose that she had entered England 
with the same feelings of hatred towards the aris- 
tocracy which she entertained towards the Southern 
citizens of her own country, and instead of taking up 
her abode in the palaces of the rich, she had entered 
the prisons where the vilest criminals were con- 
fined, and had promenaded the streets or penetrated 
into the dens of infamy and vice, which, in certain 
localities, contaminate that great city; and out of 
the materials thus furnished, and with heroes and 
heroines thus discovered, she had published, after 
the prototype of Uncle Tom's Cabin, her " Cloudy 
Memories " of London, as a true picture of Eng- 
lish life, English habits, and English morals. 

Unfortunately for the cause of justice, it is from 
materials even more meagre and less illustrative of 
truth, that the diatribes against slavery are com- 
posed, upon which even many good men have 
allowed their opinions to be formed and their pre- 
judices to be excited. 

The Southern States of the American Confeder- 
acy rest under the serious disadvantage of being the 
subject of assault emanating from those who enter- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 65 

tain opinions upon the subject of Government the 
most widely variant,and unfortunately these extreme 
classes are those who act upon convictions of right 
without reference to any pecuniary interest which 
may be involved in the question. 

The laws which recognize the existence of 
slavery, in their very nature, and upon their very 
face, deny the universal equality of the races of men. 
They assume that the African slave in America is 
not now, never has been, and never will be a suita- 
ble companion or the equal of the white man, 
either socially or politically. Here then is a dis- 
tinct issue, and an irreconcilable differencelwith, and 
an utter denial of one of the most cherished doc- 
trines of agrarian or radical Democracy. Hence 
the Southern States are assailed by all the "isms" of 
the old and new world. They are a target not only 
for those who advocate specifically the doctrines of 
Abolitionism, but for those also who, upon the 
baseless fabric of an impossible equality, have 
erected theoretical Utopias in which the family of 
man, of every clime, religion, and complexion, may 
mingle together in a common brotherhood. 

On the other hand, the Southern States and the 
institution of slavery are no less opposed by many 
of the leaders of that aristocracy in the old world 
which claims to govern the masses of their own race, 
by a right emanating directly from the Almighty ! 

In Great Britain, as well as in the more despotic 
governments of the old world, the special advocates 
and defenders of the "right divine," those most 



66 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

tenacious of maintaining intact the exclusive right 
to govern, which they say by the will of God has 
been transmitted to them from their ancestors, are 
leagued in a brotherhood of opposition to slavery 
in America, with all the fanatics of the new world, 
comprising the advocates of " free love," the 
"socialists," the Infidels the theoretical "Red 
Republicans," and "abolitionists," whose crude 
notions of liberty and impracticable conceptions of 
government have contributed far more towards 
bringing discredit upon 'free institutions' than in 
instilling into the minds of others the undeniable 
truths on which, to a certain extent, their perni- 
cious theories are based. From those holding 
these extreme and apparently irreconcilable opinions 
in regard to the natural rights of man have ema- 
nated the most virulent assaults upon the institu- 
tion of American slavery. 

This seemingly incongruous combination of dis- 
cordant materials would at a superficial glance 
appear most unnatural, and such a unity of purpose 
between them might be accounted as accidental. 
A more thorough investigation of the subject of 
slavery in the United States and of its practical bear- 
ing upon the social and political condition of the 
inhabitants, develops at once the natural causes 
which have produced this coincidence of feeling 
between those who are so widely asunder in their 
political principles. I will hereafter refer to these 
causes in detail. At present my purpose is simply 
to group together the elements and sources of that 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 67 

opposition against which the Southern States are 
called upon to defend themselves — while they 
have so many and such formidable adversaries who 
have no practical knowledge in regard to the work- 
ings of the institution which they unite in con- 
demning, who, with the single exception of Great 
Britain, are in no manner responsible morally or po- 
litically for the sin, if it be one, of slavery, and 
whose motives even the most charitable will not 
ask us to admit, proceed wholly from a principle of 
"benevolence or philanthropy — it is a truth, which 
should not be without due influence, that in every 
State of the Confederacy where slavery exists, there 
likewise exists a unity of opinion as remarkable for 
its undeviating and firm support of the existing re- 
lation between the two races as it is universal. The 
history of the world does not furnish an example of 
such unanimity upon any one subject, which has 
been so often and for so long a time a subject of 
active and thorough analysis and investigation. 
All conditions, all professions, all religions, agree 
that the institution of slavery in the Southern 
States, in consideration of all the circumstances 
under which it now exists, is right morally and po- 
litically, and that the present relations of the two \ 
races must be maintained at all hazards, so long as : 
they occupy together the same territory. 

When it is considered that of the European races 
resident in the slave States but a comparatively 
small number are slaveowners, this unity of senti- 
ment and opinion should have some weight with 



6& LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

those who have themselves no practical knowledge 
on the subject; and who derive their information 
chiefly from the distorted descriptions of its avowed 
enemies, or from romances written by ingenious 
authors to make selling books. 

Before an impartial tribunal sitting in judgment 
to decide the question upon its merits, it would 
surely be regarded as a point worthy of considera- 
tion, that those who testify against slavery, as at 
present existing in the Southern States, are igno- 
rant from personal observation of its practical 
effects, because they do not live within the sphere 
of its influence. Its great adversaries — those who 
are engaged jointly in the effort to crush it by every 
means within their reach — are Great Britain and 
the Northern States of the Confederacy. The first, 
as we have already said, established it upon the soil 
of the South, and afterwards secured from the Eu- 
ropean powers the exclusive right to the traffic in 
slaves ; while the last, within the memory of those 
now living, sold to the Southerners the very slaves, 
or their immediate ancestors, to the very men from 
whom they would now rob them. What a curious 
spectacle to the eyes of disinterested observers ! 
How strange that these should be the leaders in 
such a crusade ! But we have to deal with facts. 
And these are they who assail the South for tolerat- 
ing the enormous sin of slavery ! 

On the other hand, those who would testify in 
favor of the existing institution, and who will never 
consent that the relations at present subsisting be- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 69 

tween the African race and themselves shall be ma- 
terially changed, are the citizens in mass, and, with 
scarcely an exception, who have passed their lives, 
and whose destiny has been cast, for good or for 
evil, where the institution has been established. 

Such as I have described them are the adversaries 
and assailants — such the defenders of slavery in the 
Southern States of the American Union. To the 
success of the former, it is necessary that they 
should establish — first, their right to decide what 
shall be the political and domestic policy of the 
States of the South ; second, they must show that 
the institution of slavery has made the condition 
of the slaves worse than it would have been if they 
had never been placed in servitude ; third, they 
must establish that more good than evil will result 
from its abolition ; and lastly, it will be conceded, 
in consideration of the peculiar attitude occupied 
by the chief assailants, that they must show in 
what manner they can remunerate the owners for 
the sacrifices they will be required to make, should 
their slave property be set at liberty. 

It would be asking too much to require the de- 
fenders of the Southern States to prove that their 
peculiar system of labor has attained to that point 
of excellence from whence there can be no im- 
provement. All human institutions are imperfect ; 
and it is not pretended that this forms an exception. 
That there are evils incident thereto, is not to be 
questioned. It is sufiicient, if it can be established, 
that more good than evil has resulted, and, in all 



70 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

"human probability, will continue to flow from it. 
That the results achieved through its instrumental- 
ity have tended materially to promote the general 
welfare of mankind, and that these same benefits 
cannot be obtained under any other system of labor 
which has been devised — that incidental evils may 
spring out of the system — that cruelties may be in- 
flicted by the master upon the slave — that instances 
of inhumanity have occurred, and will occur, is 
necessarily incident to the relations which subsist 
between master and slave, as well as between father 
and child, husband and wife, master and appren- 
tice, power and weakness ; but if it can be estab- 
lished that such instances are only exceptional, and 
that the slaves, whose condition we are considering, 
are provided with more of the physical comforts of 
life — that they are less often overworked, and that, 
as a class, they are happier and more exempt from 
the ordinary ills of life than any like number of 
laborers in the world, of whatever race, color, or 
nation, it would seem that those who are conscien- 
tiously opposed to slavery, upon the ground of its 
supposed inhumanity, should be satisfied to leave 
the matter where it stands. 

Furthermore, although the public sentiment of 
the civilized world is averse to the existence of such 
a relation between man and man as master and 
slave, yet if, in addition to the manifold advantages 
to mankind which result from this institution, it 
can be established that the condition of the Afri- 
cans, as slaves in America, is far better, in every 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 71 

essential particular than that of any of their race 
ever has been, from the commencement of recorded 
or traditional history — that from barbarians and 
cannibals they have attained to a moderate degree 
of civilization — that from heathens they have be- 
come Christians — that from a condition of wretch- 
edness and misery they have become comparatively 
contented and happy — that having sprung from a 
race which has never achieved any thing for the 
good of mankind — whose entire history furnishes 
not one single name which is associated with any 
thing good — which has not in the past, in their na- 
tive land, exhibited any qualities above the instincts 
of brutes^ — they have, nevertheless, through the in- 
strumentality of the institution of slavery, been 
made to contribute, in an important degree, to the 
wants of the civilized world — it is not demanding 
too much of an enlightened public sentiment to 
abate somewhat of the natural feeling of repug- 
nance to the existence of this relation between man 
and man, in view of results so advantageous to the 
human race, and which are attended, incidentally, 
by so many blessings to those in whose cause so 
much unnecessary sympathy has been expended. 

That the results enumerated have followed, and 
that they have been consequences of the existence 
of African slavery, is susceptible of easy demonstra- 
tion. Nor will they be denied by those who have 
investigated the subject without prejudice, and with 
the single purpose of discovering the truth. But, 
unhappily, public opinion has been forestalled, to a 



72 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

great extent, chiefly by those who have employed 
this instrument, not with a view to correct error 
and to propagate truth, but to gratify a feeling of 
unkindness and hatred towards those under whose 
auspices the products of slave labor have been made 
to contribute to the wants, the luxuries, and the 
comforts of the civilized world. 

Instead, then, of requiring the Southern States to 
prove that their system of slave labor is without 
fault or blemish — instead of asking that it be tried 
by an ideal standard of abstract right, which will 
not allow the smallest evil with the greatest good — 
let us examine it simply as a human institution, 
with its good and its evil arrayed upon the one side 
and the other, "nothing extenuate nor set down 
aught in malice." When we have looked into the 
leading features of its history, from its origin to the 
present day, and have marked out its achievements, 
for good and for evil, before we resolve upon its 
destruction, or even make up our minds to impair 
its strength and influence, let us compare it with all 
the other systems of labor which have been adopted 
by mankind, with a view to the achievement of the 
same results. But, above all, let us institute a com- 
parison between this system and the " factory sys- 
tem," the "African -apprentice system," the " Coo- 
ly system," and the "India system" of Great Bri- 
tain, the greatest and most formidable of all the 
adversaries of slavery in America. 



LETTER V. 

Labor, the Foundation of the Wealth of Nations — Duties of Govern- 
ment — Declaration of Independence, and its correct interpretation 
— Classification of Rulers, and the Governed — Names do not ex- 
press the Qualities of Objects. 

The foundation of the wealth and prosperity of 
civilized nations consists in labor. It is of all the 
subjects which engage the attention of Governments, 
the most important. The products of physical labor 
are essential to the greatness and power of any 
nation, whether it be the labor of her own subjects or 
citizens, or an appropriation of the labor of others 
for her aggrandizement. 

Politically, there exists in every State two 
classes — those who govern, and those who are gov- 
erned. When regarded in reference to all the re- 
lations which subsist between men towards each 
other, the latter class may be resolved into three, 
which are distinct and strongly defined in all the 
various relations of life. 

There are in every civilized State — first the rulers, 
those upon whom are confered the right of estab- 
lishing laws for the government of the great mass, 
who occupy the relation of subjects or citizens. In 
whatever manner this power is acquired, whether 
by inheritance, or the free choice of the governed, 
or by accidental circumstances, the duties of those 
who hold this important position are the same, how- 

(73) 



74 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

-J 

t 

ever different in practice may be the performance. 
The foundation of these duties may, in general 
terms be defined to be, so to govern as to confer the 
greatest sum of happiness upon those whose rights 
and interests are confided to them ; that is, to con- 
fer the greatest amount of good to the greatest 
number, without infringing upon the natural or 
legally defined rights of any portion of those who 
may properly claim to be citizens. There are sac- 
rifices to which the minority must submit in deference 
to the general good of the whole ; but such sacrifices 
must in all well regulated governments, be founded 
upon recognized general principles, and can never 
be demanded, upon an emergency not fully provided 
for, unless in obedience to the universally recog- 
nized law of nature — self-preservation. 

In the erection of a free government, as well as 
in the progress of its existence, the citizens have a 
right to admit or to deny to aliens or foreigners, the 
full rights of citizenship. Even though the govern- 
ment be founded upon the principle, that "all men 
are by nature free and equal," yet in its practical 
application, it could only be intended to refer to 
those who were specifically designated as citizens. If 
such a principle in its broadest sense were accepted 
and adopted by a government, it would bear within 
itself the elements of a speedy dissolution. For the 
peace and well-being of society, there must be a 
degree of homogeneousness amongst its several 
members. Due regard must be had even to the 
prejudices of race, religion, and color, to habits and 



I 

LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 75 

to customs. It must be conceded, that however 
broad and comprehensive may be the principles upon 
which a government may be founded, its laws are 
local in their operation as to territory, and specific in 
their application as to persons. The Constitution of 
a free government, or the general principles on which 
by express or tacit consent a nation is 'to be gov- 
erned, whether or not founded upon the principle of 
equality, is simply the article of agreement by 
which the parties to the contract or arrangement are 
to be governed, and is not designed to confer the 
privileges of the partnership upon any other persons. 

The history of the establishment of the Govern- 
ment of the United States of America, illustrates 
this general principle with perfect clearness. In the 
very inauguration of its independent existence, it is 
declared, that " all men are created equal, that they 
are endowed with certain inalienable rights" that 
among these are " life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- 
piness." 

It would be a most manifest injustice to the 
intelligence, frankness, and common sense of the dis- 
tinguished patriots who, in the name of the people, in- 
corporated these declarations in their first act of 
independence, to suppose that they intended them 
to be understood in a literal sense. In the first 
place, it cannot be said that any two men are " created 
equal." One is born the inheritor of riches, another 
of poverty ; one strong, another weak ; one intellec- 
tual, another stupid ; and from the cradle to the grave 
these inequalities are perpetuated. But if we give 



76 LETTERS ON SLAVERY.' 

to the expression a common sense signification, 
namely : that all men who were then and there rep- 
resented by them, and whose chosen agents they were, 
and in whose name they spoke, were desirous of 
establishing a Government ■ on the basis of a perfect 
equality of rights, then it is the eloquent enunciation 
of a noble s'entiment which the nations of the world 
might adopt with benefit to their subjects. Neither 
must we suppose that the authors of this famous 
declaration desired to express so absurd a sentiment, 
as that the rights of life and liberty conferred by the 
Creator, were literally and truly inalienable. For in 
all civilized nations there must be a power, not only 
to alienate or to deprive a citizen of his liberty, but 
even of his life. 

But the best commentary upon this sublime decla- 
ration of the general principles upon which the 
revolted Colonies of Great Britain proposed to es- 
tablish for themselves a new Government, and the 
surest means of arriving at a knowledge of the in- 
terpretation placed upon them by their authors, may 
be discovered in the specific laws and regulations 
whicii they founded in illustration of the principles 
thus announced. 

Upon the establishment of the Constitution, those 
who were represented were the free citizens 'of 
European blood, who had been the subjects of Great 
Britain, or who had participated in securing their 
independence. The preamble to that instrument 
declares that, 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 77 

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more per- 
fect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for 
the common defence, - promote the general welfare, and secure the 
blessings of liberty TO OURSELVES AND OUR POSTERITY, do 
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. 

It will thus be seen, that however general and 
comprehensive may have been the principles upon 
which the Government was based, yet in the very 
first act defining and applying these general prin- 
ciples, the specific purpose of the citizens in the for- 
mation of their Constitution is defined to be, to se- 
cure the blessings of liberty, not for mankind, but for 
themselves and their posterity. 

So far from establishing in a literal sense, the in- 
alienable right of all men to liberty, Section 2, 
Article IV. declares : 

A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, 
who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall on 
demand of the Executive authority of the State from which he fled, 
be delivered up to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the 
crime. 

No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or 
regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but 
shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service 
or labor may be due. 

Section 9, Article I, declares, that, 

The migration or importation of such persons, as any of the States 
now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by 
the Congress prior to the year 1808, but a tax or dutg may be imposed 
on sueh importation, not exeeeding ten dollars for such person. 

The two last paragraphs, refer to the Africans, 
who were, or might be held as slaves. From these 
it will be observed, that the authors of the Decla- 



78 LETTERS ON S LA VEEY. 

ration of Independence, and the framers of the 
Constitution, not only recognized the existence of 
the institution of slavery, but authorized its expan- 
sion by permitting the importation of more Africans 
with the view of reducing them to slavery, and gave 
to it a legally and constitutionally recognized ex- 
istence by claiming the right to derive a direct 
revenue from the traffic. 

There is scarcely an article of the Constitution 
which is not at variance with a perfectly literal 
construction of the mere words promulgated in the 
Declaration of Independence. Not only was the 
servile condition of the African race fully recog- 
nized, but to Congress was reserved the right of 
declaring upon what terms foreigners, even of our 
own race, might be admitted to the rights of citizen- 
ship, with full authority to exclude them altogether 
from the exercise of those rights, or to dictate the 
terms upon which they might be permitted to re- 
side in the country. 

If Congress should to-morrow, in obedience to 
the clearly expressed will of the citizens, declare 
that no person born under a foreign government 
and not already a citizen, should be permitted to 
eujoy the rights of citizenship, who could say that 
the act would be in violation of any principle on 
which our Government is founded? The right to 
define the circumstances under which aliens may be 
made citizens, is an indispensable part of the sov- 
ereignty of a nation. This right of self-protection 
involves as a necessary sequence, the privilege of 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 79 

total or partial exclusion, as the interests of the 
citizens may require. 

Those who assume that the words of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, should be construed literally, 
aud in their application under the Constitution 
were intended to embrace all mankind, render a poor 
tribute to the sagacity or honesty of the fathers of 
the Republic, whose reason must have taught them 
that such a government would have been impossible ; 
and who in effect gave their sanction to laws whicn 
in all their parts, from the first clause of the Con- 
stitution to the last act of their illustrious lives, did 
violence to such an interpretation of their meaning 
and intention ! 

But say the more reasonable advocates of a literal 
construction, " There must of course be understood 
to be exceptions to the general application of these 
principles." In announcing that all mankind were 
born free and equal, it was not meant thereby, that 
the rights secured to our own citizens were neces- 
sarily incident to foreigners or aliens who might 
come amongst us. JSTor was it meant, that the rights 
of all men to "life" and "liberty" were, as therein 
declared, literally inalienable, because it is essential 
to the good of society, that there should exist a 
power in the State to take away the life or the 
liberty of a citizen who commits certain crimes. 

This is certainly true, but if reason compels us in 
justice to the authors of that work, and in obedience 
to the dictates of common sense, to admit that there 
are some exceptions to the universal application in 



80 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

practice of the general principles therein enunciated, 
by what rule of interpretation is it declared, that 
the exceptions enumerated above are all that can be 
permitted ? In effect we discover by investigation, 
that not only do the laws and customs of every gov- 
ernment, admit of other exceptions than those re- 
ferred to, but the constitutions and laws of every 
State of the Confederacy equally do violence to a 
literal construction of the rights of man as set forth 
m the instrument referred to — as an example, the 
universally recognized right of a parent to the ser- 
vices of his offspring up to the age of twenty-one 
years, and the similar right of the husband to the 
services of the wife during her entire life. Thus 
we find, that probably two-thirds of the citizens of 
America are, by the universally recognized laws of 
the land, and without the pretence of crime, held as 
"chattels" bound to service and labor, without 
any fixed compensation. Others virtually occupy 
towards them in the estimation ot the law the rela- 
tion of master. 

But there are still other cases in which the Con- 
stitution and laws of the United States, as well as 
the laws of all other organized governments, deny 
even to free born citizens of mature age, un- 
stained by any imputation of crime, the " inalienable 
right" to the enjoyment of life and liberty ! The 
farmer may be taken from bis plough, the mechanic 
from his tools, the merchant from his desk, and all 
be forced to leave family and friends, and march at 
a moment's notice to face death upon the battle-field, 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 81 

even though his judgment and inclinations may 
oppose the war in which his country may be engaged. 
Against his will, and in violation of his personal 
interests, and without having done a crime, his in- 
alienable rights, according to the literal phraseology 
of the Declaration of Independence, are violated ! 
Yet what sane man would not admit that this con- 
stitutes another proper occasion for the refusal to 
recognize the existence of the " inalienable right" 
to either "liberty" or "life." 

Let us then do justice to common reason, to the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence, and to 
the framers of the Constitution. Let us consider 
that acting in the name and as the representatives of 
the revolted provinces of Great Britain, become free 
by their glorious deeds, th>e general principles which 
they enunciated were designed, in their practical 
application, for those only whose agents they were, and in 
whose name they spoke, namely : the free white inhabi- 
tants of the sovereign States they represented, for 
them and for their posterity ! Then there is found to 
be a sublime harmony in the principles they declared, 
and in the practical application of those noble prin- 
ciples, worthy, in all time to come, of the admiration 
of that posterity for whom were thus secured and 
consolidated the blessings of liberty. 

But to resume the subject from which I have for 
a brief space digressed. The subjects or citizens of 
the State may be divided in general terms into three 
strongly denned classes. 

First — Those who neither labor nor give direction 







LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

to labor ; who are possessed of the means of sup- 
port without being obliged to resort to the drudgeries 
of labor or trade, and who have come into the pos- 
session thereof by inheritance — by superior intel- 
lectual endowments, or by accidental circumstances. 

Second — Those who give direction to labor; who 
do not actually produce by their own hands, but who 
make available the results of the labor of others. 
These occupy the station of intermediaries be- 
tween the consumers and the producers — between 
those who labor and those who purchase the products 
of labor. 

Thirdly — The great mass of mankind, who from 
necessity or choice, give sustenance to the world by 
the labor of their hands ; who cause the earth to 
bring forth its fruits to fee.d the hungry ; who pro- 
duce the material to clothe the naked ; who fashion 
the ships to transport the products of one country 






h <9 to another, and who in fine produce all that which is 
employed in ministering to the physical comforts, 
the convenience, and the luxuries of the human race. 
Upon this last class depend not only the greatness 
and wealth of empires, but the very existence of all 
the other classes who go to make up the aggregate of a 
nation. Production is necessary to the wealth of a 
nation. Wealth is an essential element of power, 
and power is indispensable to the protection of inde- 
pendence and liberty from external violence. Every 
dollar of value added to the productive industry of 
the State adds to the wealth and security of its citi- 
zens. The cotton bales produced upon the Southern 



""V 









LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 83 

plantations by slave labor, as well as the barrels 
of flour which repay the toil of the free laborers of 
the West, alike contribute -to the wealth of New 
England. They are soldiers, fully armed for the de- 
fence of the Republic, but powerless for harm to its 
citizens. *%j? 

That Government is therefore best, without refer- 
ence to its form or name, which confers the greatest 
amount of happiness upon all its citizens, and which 
at the same time induces the greatest amount of pro- 
duction. The history of the world has exhibited 
that the benefits conferred by governments upon 
mankind are not always indicated by the name or 
the political form by which they have been known 
or designated. 

The free republics of Southern America, regarded^ 
as a whole, have proven to be unworthy and incapable 
of fulfilling the legitimate ends of government. 
Anarchy, imbecility, and at times the most odious 
tyranny, have marked their downward progress from ^& 
the date of their independent existence even up to 

■ 

the present moment of time, when some of them £ 
have almost ceased to be regarded as among the ^J 
family of nations. 

The laboring classes of France, under some of her 
most despotic rulers, have been left in the enjoyment 
of the greatest amount of real liberty and prosperity ; 
while perhaps the most cruel despotism under which 
that beautiful country has ever groaned, was during the 
brief period of the first republic, when the very name 
of liberty was made odious by its excesses — when the 




84 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

blood and tears of millions of her citizens deluged 
the land ; and when the civilized world stood aghast 
and horror stricken at the contemplation of scenes 
enacted in the name of freedom, as fiercely cruel 
and despotic as had ever in times past distinguished 
an epoch in the career of any other civilized nation. 

In the United States of America, upon the other 
hand, there exists a confederated republic where ac- 
cording to theory and practice, up to the present 
period in its historj^, human liberty is happily blended 
with human progress, and where the two have 
marched hand in hand together. In all its acquisi- 
tions it has conferred upon the conquered the boon 
of its own freedom, and has made them equal par- 
ticipants in the benefits of its institutions and in the 
advantages of its growing power. 

How can the anti-slavery American who contem- 
plates the grand achievements of the infancy of the 
republic, attempt to destroy one of the chief elements 
of its greatness, for the doubtful prospect of accom- 
plishing even all the good they hope for ? Alas ! 
that the madness of sectional hatred should close 
the eyes of so many worthy and patriotic citizens, 
to the danger of taking even one more step in the 
direction which their passions, — not their reason — 
is leading them. 

The brief reference made to well known facts of 
history illustrates simply that neither the name nor 
the form of a government indicates, with positive 
distinctness, the degree of real liberty or prosperity 
enjoyed by its subjects. A despot even might con- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 85 

fer upon his subjects all the liberty they desire, while 
the citizens of a republic, by a perversion of the prin- 
ciples of such a government, or an unwarrantable 
exercise of power on the part of a majority, or by 
the still more available despotism of a dominant sec- 
tion, may be made to endure the most odious tyranny. 

While this is true i n affairs of State, it is equally so in | 
many of the affairs of life. Theorists are too apt to 
draw conclusions from the names of things, rather than 
from the things themselves — from the shadow rather 
than the substance. Even moralists are but too 
prone to direct their anathemas against theoretical, 
rather than real vices ; against the garments which 
might seem to indicate the presence of vice, rather 
than against vice, which may clothe itself in the 
habiliments of virtue. 

He who seeks to find truth, who aspires to arrive' 
at just conclusions, without giving undue influence 
to his own mere prejudices or those of others, should 
remember that the names of things are not always 
even shadows of the objects they profess to describe ; 
that the mere characters which designate a particular 
object, have nothing to do in making up the qualities 
of the object itself; and that theories, beautiful 
in themselves, and seemingly susceptible of the 
clearest demonstration, are often wofully at fault, 
when applied to the practical affairs of life. 



LETTER VI. 

Different systems of Labor considered — Free Labor more or less 
dependent upon Capital — Southey on English Labor System — Un- 
happy Condition of the Factory Operatives — Products of Slave 
and Free Labor Compared. 

Since on the productions of labor rest the founda- 
tions of the wealth and power of nations, it is a 
question of controlling interest for governments to 
decide how, and under what form, the greatest 
amount of production can be obtained, consistently 
with the well-being and happiness of those who labor, 
and the general prosperity of all. Although each 
nation has a more direct interest in its own produc- 
tions than in those of others, there is a community 
of reciprocal interests as well as obligations among 
the family of nations, which make the proceeds of 
the labor of each, important to the others. A State 
therefore should encourage and foster any particu- 
lar branch of production in which it possesses natural 
advantages, not only for its own sake, but also for 
the promotion of the interests of mankind. 

In general terms there may be said to be two 
classes or systems of labor, namely : that which is 
more or less voluntary, according to circumstances, 
and which is denominated "free labor," and that 
which is involuntary or forced, which is called 
" slave labor." That these titles or names afford no 
clear indication of the relative happiness, comfort, 

(86) 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 87 

or even freedom of those who are ranked respect- 
ively under one or the other of the above designa- 
tions, is susceptible of easy demonstration by 
reference to past and now existing facts. 

Strictly speaking, there can scarcely be said to 
be such a thing as free labor, when applied to the 
great mass of mankind who are obliged to bestow 
their physical services for an employer in order to 
procure the bread necessary to sustain life. Take 
as an example the great body of the factory opera- 
tives of England. They must work or starve !; They 
must perform certain tasks which are placed before 
them, or must submit to a deprivation of the com- 
mon necessaries of life. Not only must they ac- 
complish these tasks at the bidding of another, but 
having received the scanty wages which are said to 
be their due, and having purchased therewith the 
coarse fare which is necessary to appease the pangs 
of hunger, they have nothing left for the morrow ; 
and so day by day the same alternative is presented 
to them — to do the task assigned them or to starve. 
The laborer has the physical power to stay away from 
the workshop, but the alternative is ever present to 
him. Nature asserts its dominion, and again and 
again, until life's end, he voluntarily returns to his 
daily and never-ending toil. This is denominated 
free labor! The illustration will not be said to be 
an exaggeration. It does not even convey to the 
mind a picture so sad as the reality, in the case of 
more than a majority of the day laborers of Europe. 
I have referred only to strong men, not helpless 



i 

88 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

women and children, whose necessities are all the 
greater for their weakness, and whose weakness 
makes them still more dependent and still oftener 
the subjects of injustice and wrong. All who have 
investigated the subject know that these are the al- 
ternatives and conditions upon which free labor is 
performed by a body of human beings, even in free 
and enlightened England, more numerous than the 
entire number of slaves in America. 

I only refer to this state of things as a fact which 
none will deny. jSTot by way of complaint ; for it 
may be an unavoidable evil attendant upon an over- 
crowded population. But it serves as a definition 
of what is meant by "free" in contradistinction to 
"slave labor." 

It is not my purpose in these letters to adduce 
specific proofs in regard to all the facts which I as- 
sume to be true. I intend to deal with the subjects 
frankly, and in reference chiefly to general princi- 
ples. In illustration of these principles I will ad- 
duce only such truths as will be readily admitted 
by the intelligent reader. To misstate, or even to 
exaggerate these facts would be only to weaken the 
cause which I defend ; and to illustrate the opera- 
tions of a general system of labor by its exceptions, 
would be to imitate the injustice which has been so 
much practiced by the writers as well as the readers 
of anti-slavery romances. I neither mean to deny the 
evils which are incident to the institution of slavery 
upon the one hand, nor the great benefits which 
have resulted to mankind from free labor upon the 



LETTEKS ON SLAVERY. 89 

other. But I do mean to say and to prove that both 
systems, as mere human institutions, are attended 
in their practical developments by both good and 
evil. That neither one is adapted to all the wants 
of man, nor to all the productions of the earth. 
And that the institution of slavery in America has 
produced, under the intelligent guardianship of the 
present generation, more of good to mankind with 
less of evil to the African or of injustice to any, 
than either one of all the various systems of free 
labor which have been adopted as a substitute there- 
for, since the termination of the American war of 
Independence. 

Southey fairly describes the condition of the free 
laborers of England when he says : 

In no country can such riches be acquired by commerce, but it is 
the one who grows rich by the labor of the hundred. The hundred 
human beings like himself, as wonderfully fashioned by nature, 
gifted with the like capacities, and equally made for immortality, are 
sacrificed body and soul. Horrible as it must needs appear, the as- 
sertion is true to the very letter. They are deprived in childhood 
of all instruction and all enjoyment of the sports in which childhood 
instinctively indulges — of fresh air by day and of natural sleep by 
night. Their health, physical and moral, is alike destroyed ; they 
die of diseases induced by unremitting task-work, by confinement in 
the impure air of crowded rooms, by the particles of metallic or 
vegetable dust which they are continually inhaling ; or they live to 
grow up without decency, without comfort and without hope — with- 
out morals, without religion, and without shame, and bring forth 
slaves like themselves to tread in the same path of misery. 

The English boast of their liberty, but there is no liberty in Eng- 
land for the poor. . . . When the poor are incapable of con- 
tributing any longer to their own support they are removed to the 
workhouse. I cannot express the feelings of hopelessness and dread 



90 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

with which all decent people look on to this wretched termination of 
a life of labor. ... To this society of wretchedness the labor- 
ing poor of England look as their last resting place on this side of 
the grave ; and rather than enter abodes so miserable they endure 
the severest privations as long as it is possible to exist. 

These are the unexaggerated words of an English- 
man, who thoroughly understood the subject about 
which he wrote. But still it would be an error to 
suppose that there is no liberty, even for the poor 
in England. On the contrary, in many of the es- 
sential elements of freedom, our own Constitution 
and laws are founded upon the Constitution and 
.laws of Great Britain. The evils to which reference 
is made grow naturally out of that system of free 
labor, which is a consequence of the present systems 
of civilized governments throughout the world ; and 
though they exist to a greater extent in England, 
with its overcrowded population, than in America, 
still they follow, as an unavoidable sequence to 
laws which recognize the rights of property. 

I have before me the voluminous reports of the 
Parliamentary Committee, which, a few years ago, 
investigated the condition of the laboring poor of 
England. Large as are the volumes which contain 
the results of this investigation, covering thousands 
of pages, each page is a record of misery, destitu- 
tion, hardships, and crime, which can scarcely be 
contemplated without a shudder of horror. Is there- 
any remedy for the evils thus detailed ? Can laws 
be enacted by which they may be eradicated ? Prac- 
tical philanthropy must answer, that while they 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 91 

may be ameliorated, yet so long as one man is very 
rich, and five hundred are very poor, they cannot 
be eradicated. So long as the laws permit all men 
to accumulate wealth, there will be five hundred 
who are poor to one who is rich. What interest 
has the one man in the fate of the five hundred ? First, 
to avail himself of their labor at the lowest possible 
remuneration ; second, to obtain, in the shortest 
possible space of time, the greatest possible amount 
of labor. When the work is finished, or when the 
laborer is physically unable to work any more, the 
interest of the employer ceases. The estate of the 
rich man, in the sinews of the poor, terminates, and 
then the workhouse claims its prey ! 

But away with statistics and printed testimony. 
I appeal to the judgment and common sense of 
every intelligent reasoner. I appeal to the indel- 
ible record, written in ineffaceable characters up- 
on the heart of every observant traveller in Europe 
and the more civilized portions of Asia, for the exact 
truth of what I am going to say. 

One half of the free laborers of the so-called 
free States of the world, at this very moment of 
time, men, women, and children, are in a state of 
moral and physical destitution. One half of these 
earn a most scanty subsistence of dry bread, by per- 
forming the tasks which are set before them by a 
nominal employer, but a real master ! The other 
half of this unhappy class, unable to work, or to 
obtain work, are driven to the practice of the most 
loathsome vices, not from choice, but from an inexo- 



92 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

rable necessity ! One half of the free laborers, 
who are in a condition something better than these, 
are nevertheless obliged, by the greatest of all 
tyrants, necessity, to labor and toil at the bidding 
of a superior for their daily sustenance, with the 
ever-present consciousness weighing upon their 
minds and spirits, that if sickness, for a single day, 
intervenes, their scanty wages will be stopped. If 
their disability is of long continuance, starvation, 
or the workhouse, are ever before them as alter- 
natives. 

This classification of the free laborers of the 
world assumes that one-fourth are in a position of 
independence, in which they may be, to a greater 
or less extent, discuss with their employers the 
terms upon which they will bestow the labor of 
their hands. Is there an intelligent, candid observer 
who will say that I have made too low, an estimate 
of these, or that I have exaggerated the number of 
the dependent and destitute ? 

To the ignorant it is sometimes not well to tell the 
whole truth. A good cause is often weakened by 
endeavors to force too much knowledge upon those 
who are incapable of understanding. The mind nat- 
urally rejects all the testimony in favor of any prop- 
osition, if a portion thereof seems to be an exaggera- 
tion, a misapplication, or a misstatement. The sav- 
age chieftain of a tropical island listened attentively 
to the sublime truths which were taught to him by a 
Christian missionary ; and believed ! He credited 
without difficulty the miracles which had been per- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 93 

formed by the Most High, as communicated in the 
sacred pages of the Holy Bible. But when the 
missionary informed him that by a law of nature, 
and without any direct interposition of the Al- 
mighty, there were some countries where, during a 
certain season, the water became hard like stone, 
he who had never known any other temperature 
than such as is produced by a tropical sun, refused 
to believe, and ended by rejecting all the truths 
which had before been taught to him. 

But, just as surely as water becomes hard like 
stone in a certain temperature, do the inequalities 
recognized by the laws of all civilized nations of the 
present day, in the relative wealth of the different 
classes, produce that virtual slavery which, however 
disguised under attractive names, is still the subjection 
of one man to the will of another. 

Great Britain, in many respects, stands foremost 
among the great powers of the world. Of all the 
governments of the old world, her Constitution 
and her laws embody the noblest principles. The 
press is free, and the complaints of any class of citi- 
zens may be spread before mankind without hin- 
drance from any quarter. She stands foremost in 
the rapid march of improvement, which has signal- 
ized the present generation. I have already said 
that her governing classes, and her subjects,* taken 
collectively or individually, are, in many respects, 
worthy of the highest respect of mankind. It is, 
therefore, fair to consider that the condition of her 
free laborers is at least equal to the average of the 



94 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

free laborers of the world. 'Now, when I declare 
that in the estimate I have made, if I have exagge- 
rated at all, it has been in assuming the class of la- 
borers which enjoys a partial freedom, as larger 
than the facts would warrant, I know that I am sus- 
tained by the documentary testimony published by 
Parliament, and I am sure that every enlightened 
and candid Englishman, who has made himself ac- 
quainted with the subject, will not hesitate to admit 
the truth of what I have said. 

So far, then, as regards one half of the laborers 
of England, free labor may be defined to be the in- 
alienable right of the subject to starve, rather than 
perform the tasks which are commanded by a master. 
It is certainly a glorious privilege ; but alas for the 
weakness of poor human nature, few are found willing, 
by accepting voluntarily of the alternative, to prove 
themselves martyrs in the glorious cause of freedom ! 
We may pity them for their weakness, we may weep 
over their sad fate, but we cannot blame them for 
preferring to obey the instincts of nature, rather than 
the promptings of manhood. 

Far be it from me to say that it would be proper 
to take away from the English laborer this glorious 
birthright of liberty. Poor as it is, at a moment 
when infirmities and want are pressing upon him, 
it is probably the best inheritance which has been 
bequeathed to him by his ancestors. Nor do I mean 
to express the opinion that the introduction of a more 
humane system, such as that of the African slave 
labor of America, would on the whole be desirable. 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 95 

But I do mean to say, that all the different systems 
of labor which are in operation throughout the world, 
are attended with evils. If each nation would there- 
fore endeaver with an honest purpose to remove these 
from their midst, instead of seeking to reform their 
neighbors, true philanthropy and benevolence would 
be much the gainers. 

Although it may be assumed that in certain lati- 
tudes and under certain circumstances, (both of 
which conditions are fulfilled in the Southern part of 
the continent of America,) African slave labor is 
the best, the mildest, and the most humane of all other 
systems, yet it is not pretended that the interests of 
mankind require that it should be universal. Com- 
mon reason teaches that the same rule or system of 
labor cannot be applied to the overcrowded continent 
of Europe, and to the sparsely populated wilds of trop- 
ical America. Neither can the human race be gene- 
ralized in such manner as to apply the same fixed 
rules of government to all. There must be an adap- 
tation between them ; laws sufficiently stringent to 
answer all the purposes of society, when applied to 
certain communities, would prove wholly insufficient 
under a different state of circumstances, for the pro- 
tection of the weak, the peaceable, and the well-dis- 
posed, against the encroachments of the wicked and 
the strong. 

Free labor in England may accomplish all that 

could be desired in regard to material development, 

because not to labor is to starve. But in tropical 

countries such an inducement to work is wanting, 

4 



96 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

because a bountiful nature, almost spontaneously pro- 
duces all that is necessary to the absolute physical 
wants of man. Therefore when the alternative is 
presented to a freeman to labor or not to labor, he 
chooses the latter, for the very sufficient reason that 
he can subsist without it. There is no fact more 
clearly established, by actual experiment, than that 
neither the European nor any race of freemen can 
or will labor successfully in tropical climates. Even 
in the more temperate latitudes of the Southern 
States of the American Union, the articles of tobacco, 
cotton, rice, and sugar have only been successfully 
produced in large quantities, through the instrumen- 
tality of slave labor. 

Should, therefore, slave labor be abolished, and 
real free labor be substituted therefor, tropical pro- 
ductions must, to a great extent, cease to contribute 
to the necessities or to the luxuries of mankind ; or 
they would at least, from their limited production, 
be attainable only by the wealthy classes. 

The philanthropist should bear in mind that the 
greater part of that soothing beverage prepared from 
the coffee bean, which is alike the cheap luxury of 
the rich and the solace of the humble and the poor 
of every land, is the product of slave labor. The cane 
sugar and the syrups, which from their cheapness 
have become accessible to the poor, and which may 
be found in every laborer's cottage in America, and 
to a great extent throughout the world, are alone 
made accessible to them, through the instrumen- 
tality of slave labor ! To these may be added the 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 97 

articles of rice and tobacco, the use of which" has 
become almost universal among the great body of 
laborers throughout the world. Cotton, hj means of 
which mankind is clothed, is the product of slave 
labor ! 

From the single slave State of Brazil alone, there 
is an annual importation of coffee into the United 
States, of about one million of bags, valued at fifteen 
millions of dollars. It is consumed by every family, 
and by almost every inhabitant of the Republic. 

Of the cane sugar which is exported from the 
countries where it is produced, for foreign con- 
sumption, about seven hundred thousand tons are the 
result of slave labor ! Less than Hve hundred thou- 
sand tons are the product of Asiatic and African races, 
subjected to the European powers, while the entire 
product of free laborers of the European races, sold in 
foreign markets, would not supply the necessities of 
the city of Boston alone ! 

Of cotton, the product of the world offered for 
sale in the European and American markets, is now 
about four and a half millions of bales ; nearly 
four millions of which are produced by the Southern 
States of the American Confederacy, something more 
than half a million by subjugated Asiatics and 
Africans ; while that produced and sold by free labor- 
ers of the European races,would not supply amanufac- 
turing township of Massachusetts ! 

He whose heart throbs with a single generous or 
benevolent sentiment towards the laboring, toiling 
millions of poor, may well for an instant pause, and 



*# 



98 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

.« 

ask himself if it is the part of true philanthropy to 
strike off, at one blow, so many of the few comforts 
which their limited means permit them to enjoy ? 
I know that it is difficult for him who has at com- 
mand the ready means to purchase all that his appe- 
tite craves, without regard to cost, to imagine that 
the deprivation of one or two simple articles can 
amount to any great sacrifice. But such should re- 
member, that while they may procure substitutes, the 
poor have no such resource. "While they, by means 
of their wealth, may still supply themselves with the 
articles referred to, even at their enhanced value, they 
have only been made accessible to the poor by means 
of their cheapness, and their use must be abandoned 
when they/ become dear. 

Upon a memorable occasion, a number of the in- 
habitants of Boston, in defiance of British power and 
British interests, heroically entered the English 
ships which lay in their harbor, and cast into the 
sea the tea of which their cargo consisted. The 
patriotic citizens refused to enjoy an article of luxury, 
which they conceived could only be procured by a 
submission to an unlawful act of tyranny on the 
part of their rulers. This noble sacrifice of their 
appetites to their' patiiotism was noised abroad in 
every land. It has been the fruitful theme of the 
poets' songs, and is the bright spot in the pages of 
her annals, over which the historian loves to linger. 
To this day, the Bostonian refers to the act of sac- 
rifice, as the most brilliant and enduring testimony 
of the patriotic devotion of his ancestors to the cause 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 99 

of freedom. Although the deprivation was only to 
exist during a brief season, the world has not for 
this cause abated of its admiration for the heroic 
achievement over their appetites. 

The anti-slavery party of to-day demands, that the 
toiling millions of mankind shall strike off for ever, 
from the list of their comforts and their necessaries, 
the products of slave labor. How vast the differ- 
ence in the sacrifice made by the Bostonians and 
that which they this day require from the poor of 
the world ! 

Compare the products of slave labor, and the uses 
to which they are applied, with some of the more 
important achievements of so-called free labor, in 
the same field. 

Look into the loathsome grogshops which con- 
taminate the cities, the towns, the villages, the cross- 
roads, of almost every State of the American Union. 
Cross the Atlantic, and in every country of Europe, 
mark the spot from whence the reeling, bloated, 
beastly inebriate emerges : penetrate into Asia, and 
even into the benighted regions of Africa, and there 
may be seen, marked upon the barrel-heads, which 
are exposed to view as an advertisement to the con- 
sumer — both for the producer and the vender — in 
large and bold characters, which even a reeling 
drunkard may read— -"New England Hum!" Al- 
cohol never has been, and never will be a product 
of slave labor. 

Pass over the Pacific ocean, and enter the densely 
populated territory of over-crowded China. Mark 



:-• 



100 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

there the terrible ravages of that trade in opium 
which England forced upon that unhappy country 
at the cannon's mouth. Read the remonstrance 
which was a few days ago transmitted by the Secre- 
taries of the Church, the London, and the Wesleyan 
Missionary Societies, to the British Government. 

The injuries inflicted upon the Chinese, (says the memorial,) by 
the immense quantities of opium, forced into the country against the 
laws of the Empire, are appalling and incalculable ; exhausting the 
means, destroying the health, and debauching the morals of the peo- 
ple, to an extent that may well cause any Christian nation to shrink 
from the responsibility of being instrumental, in however remote and 
indirect a manner, in the production of results so deplorable and re- 
volting. The trade, as it is now conducted between India and China, 
tends to lower the morality, and to degrade the character of British 
merchants; and for no other object than that of reaping for them- 
selves sordid and unhallowed gains, from what may be truly described 
as a traffic in debauchery, disease, and death. It dishonors the English 
nation before God and man. It would entail lasting infamy upon 
the British name, if it became known that merely for selfish purposes 
of revenue and gain, we had compelled a foreign State, at the mouth 
of the cannon, to introduce among its subjects a poisonous drug, the 
introduction of which they have always steadily refused on fhe 
ground of its pernicious and demoralizing effects upon the people; 
thus exhibiting to the world a professedly Christian nation paying less 
regard to moral considerations than the heathen rulers of Chinal 

Alas for the reputation of philanthrophic England, 
it is already known that she has forced this poison- 
ous drug upon the Chinese nation, at the cannon's 
mouth ! 

Alas for the influence of the Christian faith ! In 
contrast with this "act of infamy" by a great Chris- 
tian power, the heathen Emperor of China, in response 
to the suggestion made to him, that he might derive 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 101 

a large revenue from the trade in opium, replied : 
"It is true I cannot prevent the introduction of the 
flowing poison ; gain-seeking and corrupt men will, 
for profit and sensuality, defeat my wishes, but 
nothing will induce me to derive a revenue from 
the vice and misery of my people." 

Old England develops the sublime system of 
free labor, by forcing this poisonous drug upon 
untold millions of the human race. The slave labor • 
of the Southern States of the American Confederacy 
sends forth its four millions of cotton bales, to every 
quarter of the globe, to clothe the naked. 

New England distributes, among other of the 
great productions of her free labor, throughout the 
world, that liquid fire which burns out the honor, 
the morals, the health, the lives of all who come 
under its pernicious influence ; spreading crime, and 
misery, and degradation, in every land. Slave labor 
offers in lieu of this hellish draught, that mild, and 
soothing, and healthy beverage, which is alike the 
solace of the palace and the cottage. 

Far be it from me even to desire to depreciate the 
magnificent results of free labor, both in England 
and America. In the development and expansion 
of the mechanic arts, and in their application to the 
wants of man ; in the vast improvements which 
have been introduced into almost every employ- 
ment of civilized nations, both are in advance of anv 
other, and of every age, of which history affords us 
a knowledge. As an American and an Anglo-Saxon, 
I am proud of these great achievement's ; but as a 



102 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

Southerner, born in a land to which slavery has been 
transmitted as an inheritance, for good or for evil, I 
am prouder still that the products of this slave labor 
have supplied raiment, and food, and other comforts 
for the rich and the poor of every land ; while no 
single commodity which has been sent forth to the 
world has contributed, in the smallest degree, to increase 
the vices or miseries of mankind. 

We have been taught in the holy Book to judge 
of the tree by its fruits — of men by their acts — and 
may we not be allowed to judge of systems by their 
results ? Shall mankind be for ever fettered in its 
judgment by a reverence for me*re names, or by re- 
spect for mere theories ? Shall we reserve all our 
anathemas against vice, for the garments in which 
our fancy may clothe it? Or shall the wolf in 
sheep's clothing be suffered to enter among the 
flocks and herds, because we do not choose to look 
beneath the garb of innocence, which guilt assumes 
to hide its criminal intent ? Before endeavoring to 
remove the mote that is in thy brother's eye, would 
it not be the part of wisdom to cast out the beam 
out of thine own eye ? 



LETTER VII. 

Unfavorable results of Emancipation by England — Beneficial results 
of Slave Labor in the United States — Comparison of the condition 
of the Slave and Free States of the American Continent — Great 
importance attached by England to tropical productions — The in- 
terests of England and the Planting States identical. 

I have assumed as facts — that slave labor has 
supplied for the use of mankind the necessary arti- 
cles of cotton, sugar, tobacco, rice, and coffee — that 
free labor never has succeeded in producing them; 
and I have inferred that if slave labor should be 
abolished, the great mass of those for whom the 
consumption thereof has become almost a necessity, 
would be obliged to abandon their use altogether. 

If any practical proofs are desired to establish 
the want of adaptation of the European races, or 
of free labor, to the purposes of production in the 
tropics, it has been amply demonstrated by the re- 
sults which have followed the abolition of slavery 
in the Colonies of England and France, and in the 
present condition of the Governments of the "New 
World. 

In all South America, the only Government 
which has attained to any great political importance 
is Brazil. It is the only nation which has kept 
pace in its improvements with the advancement of 
the world, and it is the only independent Govern- 

(103) 



104 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

ment on the American Continent, except that of 
the United States, where slavery has not been 
abolished. 

The institution of domestic slavery has existed 
in the United States of America from a period long 
anterior to its independent existence as a nation, up 
to the present moment of time. Never in recorded 
history is there evidence that any other country or 
any other people have made such rapid advances to 
greatness, wealth, and power. While it is not con- 
tended that this result has been wholly achieved 
through the instrumentality of the institution of 
slavery, none will deny that the productions of 
slave labor have contributed powerfully and mate- 
rially to its accomplishment. 

This fact is fully established by the exports of 
domestic produce to foreign countries. Although 
the population of the free States is as about two to 
one over that of the slave States, yet the exports 
from the slave States during the last year (1859) 
amounted in value to nearly two hundred millions 
of dollars, while the entire exports of the free 
States fell short of eighty millions. The value of 
the cotton alone, exceeded one hundred and sixty 
millions. Although these aggregate amounts will 
be doubtless increased the present year, (I860,) yet 
these exhibit the relative exports of the two sec- 
tions. This immense sum goes to the enrichment 
of the entire nation, and, in some shape or other, 
finds its way into almost every county in every 
State in the Confederacy. Politicians may talk 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 105 

flippantly of sacrificing this great interest " upon 
the altar of freedom," and fanatics and vain theo- 
rists may be really ready for the sacrifice ; but un- 
less common sense be entirely banished from the 
land, or lost in the mad passions excited by sec- 
tional hatred, it is still to be hoped that enough 
of true Americanism is left to prevent even one 
more serious movement in that direction. 

These productions of the Southern States have 
not only entered largely into the consumption of 
the inhabitants of the earth, but they have given 
employment to millions of laborers, whose daily 
bread is dependent upon the supply of cotton. 
These products of slave labor are necessary to the 
happiness, the prosperity, almost the very existence 
of society itself, as at present organized throughout 
the civili-zed world. 

On the other hand, look at the picture of desola- 
tion, anarchy, and thriftless imbecility which have 
marked the history of the Governments of Mexico 
and Central America. A fairer or a more produc- 
tive clime is scarcely to be found upon the earth. 
There, Nature has lavished her choicest, richest 
bounties. With a soil as productive as any in the 
world — a climate, which with such a soil, pro- 
duces almost spontaneously the best fruits of the 
earth — from one extremity of this favored land to 
the other, the eye wanders in vain in search of a 
single spot which has been made to yield of its 
abundant capacities to the wants or the luxuries 
of civilized man. 



106 LETTEKS ON SLAVERY. 

These results cannot properly be attributed to 
their political institutions; for upon the one hand, 
we have the example of the Republic of the United 
States, with a form of government similar, in all 
essential particulars, to those of Central America 
and Mexico ; and upon the other hand, we have the 
example of the Monarchy of Brazil, where, as pre 
viously stated, a comparatively rapid progress and 
development have been made. Neither can the re- 
sult be ascribed to the alleged degeneracy of the 
Spanish- American race, for there is no evidence 
that they are inferior to the Portuguese inhabitants 
of Brazil. Moreover, such an assumption is proven 
to be unfounded by the present condition of the 
inhabitants of the Island of Cuba. These are of 
the same race and of the same religion, and they 
inhabit a country similar in climate, soil, and pro- 
ductions to that favored land occupied with such 
fruitless results by the inhabitants of Central 
America and Mexico. Under "all the disadvantages 
of her political condition — governed as she is and 
has been for the benefit of a foreign master, 
with no special evidences of paternal fondness, the 
Island of Cuba has still contributed materially to 
the supply of mankind with those tropical produc- 
tions, which, from being at one time luxuries at- 
tainable only by the rich, have become necessaries 
all over the civilized world, for all classes of so- 
ciety. 

This brief reference to the relative condition of 
the governments of America, and the comparative 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 107 

prosperity of the inhabitants, exhibits the fact that 
in every portion of that great continent, where Af- 
rican slavery exists, without reference to the form 
•of the government, prosperity prevails, and the 
lavish bounties of nature have been made available 
to the wants of man. "While, upon the other hand, 
wherever the institution of slavery does not exist, 
in all that region where sugar, coffee, cotton, and 
rice, form the staple productions, or where slavery 
has been abolished, ruin, decay, and desolation have 
been the result. The fruits which a bountiful na- 
ture have placed within their, grasp remain ungar- 
nered — ungathered ! So far as the rest of mankind 
are concerned, the very land itself might be blotted 
from existence without material loss or regret, ex- 
cept for the hope that something may be hereafter 
done to elevate it to that rank among the nations 
of the earth which nature seems to have designed 
that it should occupy. 

But it is not alone among the independent gov- 
ernments of the new world where the existence of 
slave labor has been proven to be necessary in the 
development of tropical productions. England her- 
self having abolished slavery in her provinces, with 
all her re-creative power, and with all the stimulants 
of pride and interest to urge her to its accomplish- 
ment, has been unable to restore life or animation 
to her. stricken, palsied provinces ! Desolation 
abounds where verdant fields once bloomed. Decay 
has followed where were once rife the evidences of 
prosperity ; and ignorance, indolence, misery and 



108 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

vice, now reign supreme amongst that unhappy- 
class, whom the cruel philanthropy of England has 
enfranchised. 

These truths are scraps from history.' They exist 
at present as undeniable facts, which all who choose 
may verify, They are spread before our eyes in 
characters which cannot be misunderstood, if the 
purpose be to judge fairly and frankly by re- 
sults, in lieu of theories. Where African slave la- 
bor exists in the southern latitudes of America, 
prosperity abounds, and the world is furnished with 
the richness of the products of that favored clime. 
"Where it does not exist, there has been compara- 
tively no progress — no production — no prosperity ! 
Where it has existed, but has been abolished, ruin, 
decay, and imbecility have followed ! 

It being then an undeniable truth, that hitherto 
the world has only been supplied with the produc- 
tions of tropical climates through the instrumen- 
tality of slave labor, and that all attempts to secure 
this result by free labor have been unsuccessful, 
even supported by the mighty influence and power 
of Great Britain, should the institution of slavery 
in the Southern States be stricken down in defer- 
ence to the real or affected philanthropy of those 
who created it. Of those who kidnapped and trans- 
ported from Africa, as in the case of Great Britain, 
or sold for money in hand, as in the case of the now 
so-called " free States" of the North, all of these very- 
slaves, or their ancestors, whom they would now 
emancipate, and whose tender sensibilities were 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 109 

never aroused in favor of the victims of their own 
cupidity until they had received the full wages of 
their sin, and had transported the " human chattels" 
to their possessors, to be held in bondage, they and 
their descendants, by fhem and their posterity, for- 
ever ! In view of these facts, is it not fair to pre- 
sume that there is some moving motive of self-in- 
terest, which has a deeper hold upon their hearts 
than the philanthropic considerations by which they 
profess to be governed ? "Whatever may be the 
sentiments and feelings of that portion of the civil- 
ized world, which is not actively engaged in this 
crusade against the South upon the abstract ques- 
tion of slavery, should they not hesitate long and 
ponder deeply before they say " God speed " to the 
enemies of the planting States of the Confederacy 
in their present struggle ? Having satisfied them- 
selves that the existing relations between the Afri- 
can and European races, living upon the same soil, 
cannot be changed without bringing ruin upon one 
or both, let them consider of the probable conse- 
quences to mankind, if unhappily this selfish assault 
should terminate in the success of the assailants. 

I have a right to suggest these considerations, 
also, to those Americans who are laboring with so 
much energy and zeal, in conjunction with others 
from without, to stimulate the hatred of mankind 
against the Southern States, with the avowed or 
concealed purpose of reducing those States to the 
degraded condition of the British tropical posses- 
sions. There is all the greater propriety in making 



110 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

this appeal to Americans, because it is not claimed 
that the consummation they desire would add to the 
material interests of any other nation or people than 
those whose interests are adverse to theirs. 
" Let me not be misunderstood. I know that it is the 
theory of many of the wisest politicians of England, 
as indicated by the London Times in the article 
from which I have made a brief extract, that the 
British possessions in India can only be successfully 
developed by a gradual but sure process of emanci- 
pation in America, to be followed by the entire ex- 
tinction of slavery. This may or may not be true, 
but if I might venture to avow a difference of 
opinion from those who ought to be more capable 
of deciding upon the true policy and interests of 
that country, I would say that the hopes which may 
be founded upon such a contingency would, in 
practice, prove to be a delusion. England is already 
great in herself, and powerful and rich in compari- 
son with the other leading powers of the world. 
May she not, by grasping at all, lose all ? Now, 
the prosperity of the slave States is the prosperity 
of England. A combination of circumstances, wise- 
ly directed by the indomitable energies and gal- 
lantry of hei* citizens, have made her one of the 
ruling nations of the world, in a military sense, as 
well as in commerce and manufactures. In regard 
to the latter, she stands almost without a rival — cer- 
tainly without an equal. On the other hand, the 
Southern planting States, owing to the causes before 
referred to, are the greatest producers of that com- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. Ill 

modity which is manufactured at such an enormous 
profit by Great Britain. Would it not be better 
that each should go on in the career which they are 
now following, and acting upon that fundamental 
principle of political ecouomy which commands na- 
tions to develop their own resources at home, to sell 
where they can realize the greatest profit, and to 
buy where they can buy the cheapest, content them- 
selves with their present prosperity, rather than 
seek a doubtful advantage from the destruction of 
'the prosperity of others ? It may be an error of 
judgment, but I cannot resist the conclusion that 
England is greater and more powerful to-day than 
she would be if slavery should be abolished, by even 
the slow process which the leaders of the political 
anti-slavery party propose to inaugurate. And in 
this connection, let me add that, about which I may 
speak with the confidence of one who is familiar 
with the subject by a life-time experience and ob- 
servation. The relations subsisting in America be- 
tween the Africans and the inhabitants of European 
blood can never be materially changed by the con- 
sent of the latter : which consent would be essential 
to u a gradual" enfranchisement of the slaves. 
Slavery, under the circumstances there existing, can 
only be eradicated by violence, sudden and over- 
whelming ! The first step taken by her enemies 
looking to emancipation, would arouse the entire 
South to an energetic and a bloody resistance, such 
as the world to this day has never witnessed ! Let 
no one be deceived in regard to the results which 



112 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

would follow swiftly upon the heels of such a move- 
ment ! The four millions of Africans, who are now 
inhabitants of the South, can only be emancipated 
and left upon the soil by the extermination or the 
entire subjection of eight millions of whites ! 

Many of the anti-slavery advocates profess to be 
governed only by a desire to eradicate what they 
are pleased to denominate " a great sin." Others 
insist that they only " follow the promptings of hu- 
manity, " in seeking "to restore the African to his 
native freedom." Others again ignore the rights of 
the black man, but look with compassion upon the 
white race, who have been " born under the in- 
fluence of the demoralizing institution." And these 
are all the more intent upon accomplishing their 
mission of mercy, because those for whom their 
sympathies are so much excited persistently refuse 
to see the horrors of their situation. Others, we 
are bound to believe, are stimulated only by their 
hatred of the Southern people. But of all the hos- 
tile elements which go to make up the aggregate of 
that party which in Europe and America seeks, 
either covertly or openly, to destroy the institution 
of slavery in the Southern States of the Confederacy, 
it is not pretended that any human being beyond 
the limits of those States will derive any — the 
smallest benefit therefrom, except by that class of 
politicians just referred to to. They desire to shake 
off their dependence upon that American slave- 
labor,, which, by feeding their looms, gives bread to 
their millions of poor ! They hope, upon the ruins of 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 113 

the American plantations, to make their own coun- 
try the great producer of tropical commodities. And 
with all this frankness and candor, when addressing 
arguments to their own people, they have the 
temerity, in assuming the leadership of the political 
anti-slavery party in America, to aver upon the op- 
posite side of the ocean, that their controlling pur- 
pose is to accomplish a work of philanthropy, with 
the scarcely less benevolent intent to aid in re- 
moving a stain which rests upon the reputation of 
their kinsmen, and upon the fair fame of their free 
institutions ! 

That this class of politicians do not over estimate 
the enormous augmentation of wealth and power 
which might come into the possession of Great 
Britain, if their schemes should be realized, may not 
be questioned against the judgment of such dis- 
tinguished statesmen; but it is equally true that they 
underrate the obstacles to their accomplishment. 
Even though the entire northern section of the Con- 
federacy should unite with them heartily in com- 
passing their objects — even though they should 
secure the reins of power in the general government 
of the Confederacy, still the South would not con^ 
sent to the self-sacrifice, and her opposition would 
be fatal. The States of the Confederacy are, in 
many essential respects sovereign, and the small 
State of Delaware alone, with her five hundred 
slaves, could not under the Constitution be coerced 
to emancipate them, even although the Federal 



114 LETTEKS ON SLAVERY. 

Government, and every other State in the Union, 
should unite in demanding it. 

In illustration of the important influence which 
these productions exercise over the destinies of the 
civilized world, I will extract a few paragraphs from 
a late publication in which Mr. McQueen, a distin- 
guished British politician, announces the policy of 
his country. The fearful struggle of Great Britain 
in the long series of wars to which Mr. McQueen 
refers, is worthy of a passing notice. Never be- 
fore did any other nation meet and overcome so 
many and such powerful enemies. All Europe, 
as it were, was combined in solid phalanx against 
her. Some stimulated by a hereditary hatred ; others 
by jealousy and envy of her power ; others by fear; 
and others still by the necessities of their position, 
all entered upon the struggle with the single pur- 
pose of destroying the power of that nation whose 
navy was in every sea ; whose flag floated over vast 
possessions in every quarter of the globe; whose 
armies were unsurpassed in bravery or skill ; and 
whose purse seemed almost inexhaustible. Still the 
world in arms was arrayed against her, under the 
leadership of the greatest military chieftain of 
ancient or modern times. Napoleon the Great 
headed the, hostile array ! The result is before the 
world. The Government of Great Britain still 
stands amongst the foremost powers of the earth, 
illustrating still the same heroic determination, the 
same energj^, the same skill in maintaining her 
supremacy, which has ever excited the admiration 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY." 115 

and respect even of her enemies ; with the same in- 
ordinate and absorbing selfishness which has ever 
repelled the undoubting confidence or the love of 
mankind. 

During that fearful struggle [said the author referred to] of a 
quarter of a century, for the existence of a nation against the power 
and resources of Europe, directed against her by the most intelli- 
gent but remorseless military ambition, the command of the produc- 
tions of the torrid zone, and the advantageous commerce which that 
afforded, gave to Great Britain the power and the resources which enabled 
her to mfiet, to combat, and to overcome her numerous and reckless enemies 
on every battlefield, whether by sea or by land throughout the world. In 
her, the world saw realized the fabled giant of antiquity. With her 
hundred hands she grasped her foes in every region under heaven, 
and crushed them with resistless energy. . . . The increased 
cultivation and prosperity of Foreign tropical possessions, is become 
so great, and is advancing so rapidly the power and resources of other 
nations, that these are embarrassing [England] in all her commercial 
relations, in her pecuniary resources,- and in all her political re- 
lations and negotiations. ... If the cultivation of the tropical 
territories of other powers be not opposed and checked by British tropi- 
cal cultivation, then the INTERESTS and the POWER of such 
States will rise into a preponderance over those of Great Britain, and 
the power and the influence of the latter will cease to be felt, feared, 
and inspected amongst the civilized and powerful nations of the 
world. 

When we consider that mankind generally, but more 
especially the governments which are instituted by 
men, in the very nature of things, seektheir own ag- 
grandizement, even at the expense of doing an inci- 
dental injustice to others, the citizens of the great Re- 
public should make some allowance for the zeal of 
British abolitionism in attempting to destroy an insti- 
tution, which in its operations they conceive to be 
inimical to their interests. When England defended 



116 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

and upheld and propagated slavery in America, it 
must be remembered that the territory and the 
slaves were hers ; now that a revolution has deprived 
her of that territory and those slaves, and the 
ownership thereof has passed into other hands, it 
could scarcely be expected that her policy in refer- 
ence to the industrial pursuits of that country would 
not undergo a radical change. That the anti-slavery 
party of Great Britain in assuming the leadership 
of the emancipationists of New England, and in the 
announcement of its intentions, should be profuse 
in its protestations of a merely benevolent and phil- 
anthropic purpose, should not be a matter of sur- 
prise ; but in deciding upon the weight to which their 
counsels are entitled, we should, as men, consider 
the magnitude of the interests involved, and as 
Americans, we should not suffer ourselves to be de- 
ceived in regard to their real sentiments and pur- 
poses, in our admiration of the outer garments with 
which they have enveloped them. 

In order that I may not be misunderstood, I will 
here again state my own belief that the policy of 
this party in assuming a hostile attitude towards 
the development and the power of the planting 
States of America, and by their irritating assaults 
against them, perpetuating those feelings of unkind- 
ness which were enkindled by the wars in which we 
have been emm^ed, is neither in accordance with 
their own interests or those of mankind. That 
England should have emancipated the slaves that 
were left in her possession, after the revolution of 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 117 

her North American slave provinces, with a view 
to' the ultimate destruction of that great element of 
future power and wealth in the revolted territory, 
may be regarded as but a natural ebulition of ani- 
mosity consequent upon the irritations which such 
a struggle always engenders. -But the speedy dis- 
appointment of such hopes, if they were in fact en- 
tertained, and the perpetual alienation of these Col- 
onies having been long since established, England 
should shape her policy in accordance with the 
promptings of a more enlarged statesmanship. No 
other two nations of the world have so many in- 
ducements to cultivate a sincere and enduring friend- 
ship. Every additional bale of cotton which may be 
produced in the planting States, adds just in that 
proportion to the material power and wealth of 
Great Britain. Nay, more than this, there are 
political considerations and heart sympathies, which 
when left to their own free action, impel them to- 
wards each other,and which it were wise that England 
should consider and respect. But even though the 
British anti-slavery leaders give no heed to such 
considerations, they should remember, that the 
friendships they cultivate in theUnited States, having 
their foundations only in a common sentiment of 
hatred, are not to be relied upon in the hour of trial 
and danger ; while the animosities thus engendered 
live to bear fruits long after the causes which pro- 
duced them have disappeared. 



LETTER VIII. 

Opposing interests combined in the Anti-Siavery Party — Causes of 
disaster to Republics-^Tendency of Slavery to produce equality 
in the dominant race — Causes of opposition to Slavery by aristo- 
cratic bodies — Morals of Slave and Free States — Capital and Labor 
united in Slave States. 

The superficial observer, in analyzing the compo- 
nent parts of the great anti-slavery party, is sur- 
prised at the apparently discordant materials of 
which it is composed. He discovers that the zeal 
of the fanatical advocates of the equal rights of all 
men, without regard to color, religion, qualifica- 
tions, or education, scarcely keeps pace with that 
of the champions of the divine right of kings and 
nobles, in accomplishing the destruction of an in- 
stitution which seems to be equally at war with the 
interests and opinions of both. The most uncom- 
promising of all the enemies of slavery in the Old 
World, spring from the hereditary governing classes 
— the most fanatical and vindictive in the New 
World, are those who would be recognized in 
Europe under the designation of "Red Republi- 
cans." This coincidence of sentiment, however, 
grows out of the antagonism of slavery to the ex- 
treme doctrines of both. 

The unsuccessful efforts which have been made 

in Europe to construct Republics upon the ruins of 

Monarchies, have had their origin in the ignorance 
(118) 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 119 



t 



of the masses of the populations. This ignorance 
has been made use of by more enlightened dema- 
gogues to subvert the very Governments which 
they professedly sought to establish. The ignorant 
people were led to believe that liberty and license 
were synonymous, and that freedom consisted in the 
absence of the restraints of law. The calamities 
which have generally followed upon the heels of 
every successful effort to overthrow Monarchical 
Despotisms, have been brought about by the ex- 
cesses induced by such violations of the principle 
upon which a Republic should be founded. More- 
over, these same ignorant classes were in turn 
equally the instruments by which Despots have 
been able to resume their lost power. 

In the formation of the different Governments of 
the American Confederacy, if the negroes had been 
made citizens, they would have constituted the ma- 
terial out of which demagogues would soon have 
produced a state of affairs that would have caused a 
radical change in the form of the Government. 
Happily, such a policy was not adopted, and hence 
the slave States entered upon their career as Re- 
publics without being subjected to those dangers 
which originate in the ignorance and incompetency 
of its citizens. The material which has been sue- 
cessfully employed in the Old World to make Re- 
publics impossible did not exist. That class of 
the community which elsewhere led by wicked 
counsels produces revolution, was unknown in the 
slave States. The humblest white man felt that 



120 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

there were below him, socially and politically, a 
considerable portion of the population. He had all 
the incentives of pride to fulfil properly the duties 
which, as a free citizen, he was called upon to per- 
form. No matter how humble his position, he 
never occupied that station in regard to the wealth- 
ier portion of the population which would impress 
upon him a feeling of inferiority. He performed 
none of those menial services for others which 
would degrade him in his own estimation, or which, 
from the nature of his relations to his employer, 
would make him but an instrument in the hands of 
his superior. All these services were rendered by 
slaves. 

The existence of slavery thus rendered facile the 
establishment of free government by the dominant 
race. There was no hazard in conferring equal 
political privileges upon the whites, and the natural 
influence of slavery has been to create a feeling of 
personal independence among the superior race, 
which makes them more capable of performing the 
duties of free citizens. These States have by this 
means been exempted, in a great measure, from 
those popular tumults which have been the graves 
of the Eepublics of the Old World. . In effect, while 
the free States of New England have been overrun 
by fanatics who display their absurd and pernicious 
principles under the forms of "Fourierism," "abo- 
litionism," "atheism," "free love-ism," " womans' 
rights-ism," and many others equally detestable, 
they are absolutely unknown in the slave States, 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 121 

because the populations from which proselytes to 
such doctrines are usually obtained, do not there 
exist, and there are no materials out of which the 
intelligent, but vicious or fanatical leaders, can con- 
struct a party. 

The abolitionists of England, as well as of the 
Northern States of the Union, without designing to 
do so, confirm the facts above stated. It is often 
with these a subject of mortification and complaint 
that the Southern States, as they aver, generally 
select their Representatives in the Congress from 
among their most intelligent citizens, and retain 
them for a long period in the management of their 
public affairs ; while in the abolition districts, scarcely 
have they elected a man of ability, ere he is thrust 
aside by another, who, in his turn, is superseded 
almost before he has made himself familiar with 
the routine of his duties, by one more radical and 
more skilled in the subtle arts of demagoguery. 
This is the testimony furnished by the enemies of 
slavery. In truth, however, it may be readily in- 
ferred that, from the causes which exist, such re- 
sults would naturally follow. 

The effect of slavery has, therefore, been to es- 
tablish free institutions for the dominant race, and 
upon a solid and durable foundation. That the ex- 
istence of the institution of slavery has a powerful 
influence in establishing and preserving equality 
among the different classes of the governing races, 
may be readily conceived. For example — let us 
imagine that one-third of the entire population of 



122 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

Great Britain, embracing the most ignorant of her 
population, were removed, and their places supplied 
by African slaves, how long would even the vene- 
rated institutions of that loyal population with- 
stand the determined assertion of the right to 
equality on the part of the remaining Anglo- 
Saxons ? The population whose ignorance and 
dependence would have been a perpetual bar to 
the establishment of equality, wou^i no longer 
exist. The instruments which may now be used 
by the governing classes in maintaining their 
supremacy, would have passed away, and with 
them, would disappear those hereditary distinctions 
which are now recognized as natural and proper, 
and even necessary. In this tendency of the insti- 
tution of slavery to Democratize the dominant race, 
by elevating all classes to the capacity of self-govern- 
ment, may be found one of the principal causes 
which have contributed to array against it heredi- 
tary governing classes. The judgment and the in- 
stincts of mankind generally lead them in the di- 
rection of their interests. Those who are in the 
possession of exclusive privileges, rarely give 
credit to the wisdom or morality of measures 
which have a tendency to curtail or to render un- 
necessary the exercise of such rights. . 

The governing class of the State is not only jeal- 
ous of rivalry, but, apprehending no danger from 
itself, it is always endeavoring to perpetuate, and to 
increase its power. Whether it be the government 
of a monarchy, or an aristocracy, or of the people, 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 123 

the same principle of human nature is always at 
work — more power — and more and more. On the 
other hand, the governed, with more or less earnest- 
ness, desire the extension of their privileges. In 
every State, therefore, there is a perpetual contest. 
Though it may not find occasion for practical de- 
velopment, it exists in the mind, and only lies dor- 
mant for a season, awaiting a proper moment for its 
manifestation. The tendency of the institution of 
slavery being opposed to hereditary distinctions of 
rsfnk among members of the dominant race, very 
naturally accounts for one of the causes which have 
impelled the supporters of despotism to unite with 
the advocates of the most extreme agrarianism, in 
opposition to the institution of slavery in America. 
Upon this hypothesis only can we account for the 
extreme zeal of many of the governing classes of 
Enrope for the expulsion of slavery from the Amer- 
ican continent, unless we attribute to them individ- 
ually and collectively a loftier appreciation of human 
liberty than other classes can lay claim to. 

It cannot be that they oppose slavery because this 
institution conflicts with the doctrine of the universal 
equality of the races of mankind ; because they 
maintain for themselves the right to the exercise of 
exclusive privileges, which they have inherited from 
their ancestors, and which they also claim the right 
to transmit to their posterity. It cannot be on the 
score of humanity, pure and simple, for, I presume 
it will scarcely be denied, that the system of slavery 
in the United States is not only the mildest system 



rip 

124 LETTERS ON SL AVERY / 

of labor which exists, but, by the admission of even 
the most persistent and uncompromising enemies 
of the slave States, the slaves are more kindly dealt 
with, are better fed and clothed, and more rarely 
overworked, than any similar number of free laborers 
in the world. It cannot be because of the demora- 
lizing tendencies, or vices incident to slavery ; for if 
they have eyes they must see that there is more vice 
and immorality, more human degradation, more un- 
pitied misery, illustrated by the history of any one 
single day of the year, in the city of London, or Paris, 
or Vienna, or even New York and Boston, than a 
whole year would bring forth amongst all the slaves 
of America. It is true that among the slaves there 
is vice, for they are human ; but they are never 
forced to the alternative of vice or starvation. They 
may yield to the temptations of a naturally wicked 
heart, but never are they induced by necessity to 
the commission of crime. The wicked imaginations 
of obscene men and women picture among the fam- 
ilies of the Southern States, scenes of immorality 
and debauchery. "Who does not know, that in any 
one of the cities I have named, as well as in hun- 
dreds of others which might be enumerated, the 
vices referred to are practised to a larger extent be- 
tween master and servant, or "help," of the same 
race, in one month, than during, half a generation 
in the slave States, between master and slave. In 
the one case there exists a. natural repulsion, as well 
as the stimulant of pride. Even these barriers, how- 
ever, are powerless to prevent altogether this species 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 125 

of vice. But let any one compare in his mind, the 
relative inducements, incentives, and opportunities 
for the commission of the vices referred to, between 
black slaves and their owners, and white hired ser- 
vants and their masters, and he may decide the 
question for himself, without desiring further testi- 
mony than the existing relations of the two would 
furnish. 

In this connection, let me refer, for an instant, to 
the revolting spectacle which meets the eye in all 
large cities, under the operation of what is denomi- 
nated the system of free labor. Look, for example, 
any evening of the year, upon the crowded streets 
and avenues of London. There you behold — not 
hundreds — not thousands — but tens of thousands of 
human beings, fashioned after the model of the 
fairest of Grod's creatures, offering themselves in the 
highways and by-ways, body and soul, to any pur 
chaser who will give, them money to buy bread. 
They would even work for the pittance of ten cents 
or twenty cents a day — the scanty wages allowed to 
a free laborer of their class — but there are none to 
give them employment. There is no fire in the 
miserable apartment to give warmth to its inmates. 
There is no morsel of food to appease the pangs of 
hunger. The tempter is present pointing to the 
manner of obtaining both : the purchaser is without. 
Are the victims young and well-favored ? they offer 
themselves in exchange for that which will support 
life, Are they old and without charms ? they beg 
of those whom they may encounter, in the name of 



126 LETTEKS ON SLAVERY. 

humanity, for something wherewithal to sustain a 
little longer their miserable existence. Perhaps the 
first person they encounter is a clergyman of the 
abolition school. He turns coldly away from the 
blandishments of the one, and the tears of the other, 
and entering his study, sits down to compose an ap- 
peal to mankind, in behalf of the suffering slaves of 
America ! No sentiment of pity for the misery which 
exists around him ; no horror of the crimes or vices 
which he cannot fail to see ; no earnest effort to 
amend that system which is the fruitful parent of 
so much misery and vice, can move him to employ 
his great intellect, or exert his great influence where 
it might be availing. For him and for his class, 
there is but one great sin ; and that is the sin of 
American slavery in a far distant land. There is 
but one object of compassion; but one which calls 
for the exercise of benevolence, and that is "the 
little negro baby." 

This clergyman is unfortunately but the type of a 
class, which for the sake of humanity, it were to be 
wished, were less numerous. Unhappily, Old Eng- 
land is not the only land in which they are to be 
found. The example has not been without in- 
fluence across the Atlantic, where it has assumed a 
form even more revolting. 

We may make due allowance for the injustice done 
by the abolitionists of Great Britain to the planting 
States of America, because they believe that they have 
a great political interest in embarrassing first, and in 
overthrowing afterwards, at the proper moment, the 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 127 

institution of slavery. We may respect the convic- 
tions of the dreamer, who hopes to witness, with the 
disappearance of slavery, the realization of what is 
regarded by practical men, an impossible equality. 
We may pardon the politician who takes advantage 
of the popular excitement to secure his way to place 
and power. But for the professed teacher of God's 
Holy Word ; for the man who claims to be a disciple 
of Christ, and a follower of his holy counsels, but 
who prostitutes the pulpit to the purpose of inciting 
hatred, instead of love ; who preaches for blood and 
war instead of peace ; who from the holy desk distri- 
butes " Sharp's rifles," and other instruments of mur- 
der, with instructions to go forth and slay ; who, in ef- 
fect, teaches his congregation that all the other sins of 
the world are as nothing compared to the sin of 
slavery — who can regard him in any other aspect, 
than as the enemy — whether innocently or other- 
wise, it is not my province to judge — of that meek 
and lowly Jesus, whom he professes to serve. 

But to resume the consideration of the opposition 
made by hereditary governing classes, to American 
slavery. It cannot be because of the degradation 
it imposes upon the African, for no informed man 
will be found to assert that any of his race have ever, 
in any time past, occupied a position so elevated in 
the scale of humanity, as that of those who are now 
held as slaves within the slave States of America. 
Upon this point there exists no contrariety of opinion. 
The ultra abolitionist, and the extreme slavery pro- 
pagandist, are in regard to this fact, in perfect accord. 
5 



128 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

» 

Neither can it be that this opposition arises from any 
promptings of Christianity, because, though heathens 
in their native land, slavery has christianized them. 
Many of these philanthropists say that none can be 
saved who die without a knowledge of Christ, yet, 
but for the existence of African slaver} T , who can be- 
lieve that fifty of these four millions of slaves, would 
ever according to this view have "fallen into the 
way' of salvation?" Would they have consigned 
these people to the horrors of eternal punish- 
ment? If the doctrine to which I refer be true, 
such would have been their terrible fate but for their 
enslavement. 

The philanthropic and benevolent, both of England 
and America, send forth their Christian missionaries 
to every benighted land, into which these self-exiled 
teachers of our sublime faith can procure ingress. 
They endure patiently hardships, dangers, and death, 
in their zeal to promote the cause in which they are 
engaged. Many of these I have known well. I 
have entered their dwellings in the far away moun- 
tains of Asia, and even in Africa I have witnessed 
the operations of their good work. 'They are a good 
providence and a treasure to the benighted lands to 
which they are sent. The influence of their exam- 
ple and their teachings spread blessings all around 
them, even though their doctrine be rejected. They 
live apart from the home-friends they love, they per- 
form the duty which is set before them, they die in 
obscurity in a foreign land, and are forgotten ; but 
the fruits of their good works live on forever ! All 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 129 

honor then to the Christian missionary, who makes 
of himself a real martvr in the cause of true benevo- 
lence ! Yet all the labors of all the missionaries 
who have been dispatched to heathen lands from 
England and America since the revolution, have not 
converted to Christianity one tenth of the number 
which slavery has brought into the fold of our 
Saviour. 

"While we cannot expect that the advocates of the 
Divine right of classes to govern, will, as a body, 
abate anything of their hostility to an institution 
which tends to eradicate the political inequalities of 
the dominant race upon which their system is 
founded, may we not hope for a different result, 
among true friends of freedom, who may have formed 
erroneous opinions in regard to practical results by 
/ following too closely the indications of their theory. 

If the advocates of the universal equality of man 
are really desirous, as they undoubtedly are, to wit- 
ness the establishment and perpetuation of free 
institutions, as now existing in the United States of 
America; partial though they admittedly are, and 
confined to the European races, why should they 
wish to place them at so much hazard, to subject 
them to so fearful on ordeal, as to insist upon the 
recognition of an equality between races so far re- 
moved from each other by education and habit, so 
dissimilar in all things ? It they consider that the 
failure or success of " the experiment" of free gov- 
ernment, now being made in the New World, will 
have an important bearing upon the fate of free 



130 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

institutions for centuries yet to come, why should 
they desire to stake all upon the cast of a single die ? 
Why should they wish to deprive a the experiment' 3 
now in the morning of its success, of its surest byj-, 
wark— why should they desire to hazard the inter- 
ests of millions of the white race, for the purpose 
of conferring a doubtful benefit upon but compara- 
tively a handful of Africans ? — and all for no proba- 
ble good, except to test in practice the proof of 
a theory which the vast majority of mankind believe 
to be founded in error? 

There exists still another class both large and for- 
midable, who oppose slavery upon grounds altogether 
antagonistical to those we have been considering. 
They profess no sentimental philanthropy, no belief 
in the natural equality of the African, no sympathy 
for sufferings which they say do not exist, no dispo- 
sition to elevate him for his own sake to political 
independence. They oppose slavery because they 
say slavery is inimical to free labor. 

A little practical knowledge of the facts will con- 
vince any one who investigates the subject, that 
this assumption is wholly groundless. In free States 
there is a perpetual conflict between capital and labor. 
There may be a truce from necessity, but the war is 
renewed when that necessity ceases to exist. Capital 
is ever seeking to procure labor, at the minimum 
amount for which it may be purchased. Labor seeks 
to obtain from capital the highest reward for its ser- 
vices. This contest must be perpetual until all men 
become laborers or all capitalists. 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 131 

• 

The terms on which this perpetually recurring 
battle is fought, are most unequal. The decision is 
almost always in favor of capital. The issue may be 
held in abeyance for a season ; a momentary success 
may even give heart and courage to the laborer ; but 
in the end the crowning victory has always been se- 
cured to capital. Why ? because capital may exist in- 
definitely as to time, without eating. The laborer must 
have his daily bread ! Bread may only b e had for money > 
and capital will only bestow that money for labor. 
Labor may fight bravely and hopefully for a day, 
but it goes to bed on an empty stomach. It may 
arise in the morning refreshed by its slumbers and 
courageously renew the battle, but it retires at night 
oppressed with the pangs of hunger ! On the third 
day it may struggle against its sleepless, cautious, 
passionless, heartless foe with the desperation of 
despair. On the fourth day it yields itself as van- 
quished, or perishes. In either event capital is the 
victor. ». 

In slave States, or at least to the extent to which 
slaves are held and the general influence which it 
naturally exercises, capital and labor form but a 
single interest — there cannot be a conflict, because 
capital is labor and labor is capital. The interests of 
capital and labor are one, because the two are identi- 
cal. The capitalist seeks by every means in his 
power to enhance the value of labor, because labor 
is his only capital. If labor recedes his capital 
declines. If labor advances his capital is aug- 
mented. 



132 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

• 

In slave States therefore, labor is always compara- 
tively high, and free labor, as well as capital, is the 
gainer thereby. There is not a country upon earth 
where the aggregate of labor, free and slave, com- 
mands so high a price as in the slave States of 
the American Union. And I appeal to the experi- 
ence of every mechanic or laboring man, however 
humble he may be, who has resided in both free and 
slave States, to pronounce upon the correctness of 
what I am going to say ; namely : that there is no 
other country under the sun in which labor is as 
much respected, or in which the laborer is accorded 
so high a social rank, as in the slave States. I know 
that this statement does not accord with Abolition 
theories, but I know that which I have said to be true, 
so far as my own observation extends, in every part 
of the world which I have visited. And I may add, 
that in no other country is there as much true con- 
tentment, happiness, and comfort, or as little desti- 
tution or want as exists among the laboring popula- 
tion of the slave States of the American Union, of 
whatever color, race, occupation, or condition. 
These are my sincere convictions founded upon 
experience and observation. They may be tinctured 
by my never disavowed love for the land of my birth; 
but I am thus far sustained by the unanimous testi- 
mony of all, who like myself, have had a life-ex- 
perience on the subject about which I have thus 
presumed to differ with so many hundreds who 
have never placed foot upon the territory where 
slavery exists. 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 133 

But there is still another important consideration, 
which is opposed to the enfranchisement of the slave, 
even if it were possible ; that is, a due regard to the 
interests of the millions of the white race who now 
reside, and whose destiny has been cast in the slave 
States. What would be the condition of the free 
w 7 hite laborers in the midst of these millions of 
freed Africans who, from being capital would be 
converted into competitors for the stinted pittance 
which capital would bestow for labor ? The free- 
born mechanic and farm laborer would be reduced 
to the alternative of competing with the African 
upon equal terms. Suppose that which it is impos- 
sible to believe, that the free whites would submit 
tranquilly to the galling and revolting association, 
is there a philanthropic friend to the free laborers 
of his own race who would wish to reduce them to 
a condition so humiliating? The standard value of 
labor would be that which unscrupulous capital 
would stipulate with the ignorant and indolent 
African. Free white labor would be powerless to 
defend itself against injustice, because there would 
be an ever ready substitute of African labor, which 
capital could employ during the rare intervals in 
which intelligent labor might vainly seek to secure 
a proper reward and acknowledgment for its toil. 

The rich man could fly from the contaminating 
association! The poor from necessity would be 
bound to the soil. Upon the rich w T ould fall the 
present pecuniary sacrifice, but upon the poor would 



134 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

rest the perpetual record and presence of the 
wrong. 

I have here assumed what I know to be an im- 
possible contingency. An overwhelming military 
force may liberate the slaves — armed invaders 
from the North may destroy the value of the slave 
to his owner, and to mankind — John Browns may 
kindle the torch of servile insurrections ; and the 
Southerner may live to see his dwelling in flames 
and his hearthstone made desolate ; but all the 
power of their enemies cannot induce the freemen 
of the South, of any rank, condition, or occupation, 
to adopt the freed Africans as their fellow-citizens, 
or to tolerate any change in their relative condi- 
tions that would remove the barriers, social or politi- 
cal, which now separate the races. 

But why should not good men consider the sub- 
ject of slavery as it exists in the Southern States 
without allowing themselves to be influenced by un- 
founded prejudices, or sectional animosities, and 
look only to the results which it has achieved ? 
Though they may be opposed to slavery in the ab- 
stract, is it more than just that the slave States 
should have the benefit of that inexorable necessity 
which, without any agency on their part, left them 
no alternative consistent with their safety but to 
adopt and perpetuate the institution of slavery ? 
This conceded, examine and decide *f the Southern 
States have not properly employed it in the interest 
of mankind, and with a due regard to the comfort 
and happiness of those who were thus placed under 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 135 

their charge and direction. If still there exist 
doubts, compare that system of labor with the sys- 
tems of so called free labor, which civilized nations 
have adopted in order to achieve similar results. 
No friend of the slave States would fear the deci- 
sion of any impartial, just, and intelligent tribunal. 



LETTER IX. 

Influence of Public Opinion — Origin of the Anti-Slavery Sentiment 
in England — Failure of schemes to destroy the value of Slave 
Labor in America — Revolting Inhumanity of the systems institu- 
ted to supersede Slave Labor — Comparison of the Slavery System 
with those proposed as Substitutes — Subjugation of India by 
England — A trial by the Moral Law. 

There has been no period in the past when the 
policies of governments have been so much moulded 
by the general public sentiment of mankind as at 
the present epoch. Electricity and steam have 
brought countries once remote from each other into 
almost immediate contact ; and the commerce which 
has been thus stimulated between the nations of the 
earth has brought about a mutual dependence which 
renders the productions of 'each important to the 
others. The facilities offered by rapid and constant 
communication are alike mediums for the transmis- 
sion of truth and falsehood. Unfortunately, the 
latter travels with a celerity to which the former 
rarely attains. Upon the establishment of the Re- 
public of America in the last century, with its bound- 
less and inexhaustible resources, the adherents of 
the monarchical school, especially in England, imag- 
ined that they saw danger, to all existing govern- 
ments which were based on "the right divine," if 
the experiment should prove a success. How was 
this success to be averted ? The great field for the 

(136) 



LETTEES ON SLAVERY. 137 

production of the most important staples, with, the 
labor which could alone develop them, was in pos- 
session of the Republic. How were these advantages 
to be rendered unavailable, and these sources Of 
power to be destroyed ? England did not require a 
Delilah to tell her in what consisted the strength of 
the young Samson. She set to work to shear the 
locks of the new Republic with an energy, and a 
zeal, and a disregard to cost, which no other nation 
than England knows how to put in practice. 

Well does Britain deserve the title of Great ! She 
is great in all things ! Great in her virtues and in 
her vices ; great in her physical strength ; great in 
her prosperity, or in her adversity ; great in the sac- 
rifices she is ever ready to make to accomplish her 
policy ; but greater still in the facility with which 
she can change her code of morals according to the 
exigencies of her pecuniary or political interests ! 

Slavery was abolished in all the provinces which 
remained to her after the American revolution, and 
the world from that day to this has resounded with 
her denunciations of the Republic for the toleration 
of that very slavery which she had established. 
Fortunately for the Republic and for mankind, the 
clamor against the slave States has been thus far 
unavailing. America has grown, as if by enchant- 
ment, from the lowest to the highest rank in the 
family of nations. The very existence of society, as 
at present organized, is dependent upon the products 
of that very labor which English pseudo-philan- 
thropy has so vainly endeavored to destroy. In 



138 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

vain, too, has she sought a substitute by which this 
dependence upon slave labor might be avoided. The 
world seemed ready to adopt any alternative how- 
ever wicked, or inhuman, or cruel, if it could only 
dispense with the form of slavery existing in the 
American Republic. Failure has attended all these 
efforts, although some of them are still in existence. 
Let us briefly examine some of the more marked 
features of these substitutes for slave labor. 

The British statesmen wbo instituted the moral 
war against slavery, hoped that in abolishing the 
institution, and leaving the slaves as freed men in the 
provinces in which they had been held in bondage, 
there would continue to result the same amount 
of production. This they expected to increase by the 
introduction of other Africans or Asiatics, who, in- 
stead of being slaves for life, should serve for only 
a limited period — say eight years, at a small stipu- 
lated rate of wages. The amount which should be 
paid to this class of laborers was of course fixed by 
the British employer — the savage, or semi-savage, 
as the case might be, being too ignorant to under- 
stand anything of the value of his labor. The sys- 
tem was supposed to possess a great advantage 
over that of slavery, as it did not involve the neces- 
sity of support to any who were too old or too 
young for active labor. Never perhaps did any na- 
tion have more at stake, in a pecuniary point of view, 
in the result of any one scheme, than did Great 
Britain in the issue of this experiment on a small 
scale, having for its object the substitution of a 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 139 

species of nominal free labor for that description of 
labor which existed in the southern States of 
America. 

Upon the moment when the great English states- 
men discovered that they could no longer compete 
successfully with the Republic in tropical produc- 
tions, under the slave labor system, they resolved, 
if possible, to destroy that system, and to erect upon 
its ruins another, in which England would be with- 
out a rival, even though every christian power on 
earth were combined against her. If the substitute 
above referred to had been successful in achieving 
its purpose, slavery would have abolished itself, be- 
cause of its unprofitableness. The new system 
would have destroyed the value of the slave, and 
the great struggle of the European nations having 
tropical possessions, would have been to develop, as 
rapidly as possible, a system of labor which, while 
being much cheaper, would at the same time have 
been put into operation without any violation of 
the public sentiment of the world. England, before 
the year 1860, could have thrown into her posses- 
sions, where slavery had been abolished, a number 
of laborers three times as great as all the slaves in 
America. These she could have taken forciblv or 
otherwise, as the exigencies might have demanded, 
from her vast and inexhaustible horde_of subjuga- 
ted Asiatics and Africans. There would still have 
been left for the cultivation of her immense Indian 
territory, the untold millions upon tens of millions 
of souls who inhabit that unhappy country, which 



140 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

has been reduce^ by a conquering and a superior 
race from civilization to barbarism ; and whose 
liberties have been destroyed by .the shedding 
of more human blood than flows in the veins of 
every enslaved African in America ! 

What magnificent visions of wealth and power 
and grandeur must have floated through the brains 
of the English statesmen, and the calculating chris- 
tian philosophers, who conceived this scheme of ag- 
grandizement ! What were a few millions of pounds 
sterling in the beginning, to the results which they 
hoped to achieve ! It was indeed worthy of an im- 
mense sacrifice, and great was the sacrifice they 
made to reach the promised, but ever receding 
goal ! More money has, in one form or another, 
been expended by Great Britain, in this fruitless 
effort to discover a substitute for slave labor in 
tropical productions, than would have paid five 
times over for all the slaves she liberated. 

This scheme offered to its originators a double 
advantage ; for while it would have been, if suc- 
cessful, a source of unbounded wealth to European 
nations with foreign tropical possessions, its entire 
want of adaptation to the peculiar circumstances of 
the Republics of the new world, would have driven 
the United States of America from the field of com- 
petition for the great prize. I have already explained 
that it would be an act of political suicide, if nothing 
worse, for these States to introduce or to tolerate in 
their midst a barbarous, or a semi-savage population 
of a different race and complexion, who would oc- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 141 

cupy any other relation to the European masters 
than that of perpetual servitude. Nations having 
provincial tropical possessions, do not rest under 
any such restriction. The difference in this respect 
between the relative positions of Great Britain and 
the American planting States of the Confederacy, 
may be more readily conceived by supposing that 
the British Government were to introduce in the 
United Kingdom millions of Africans, who, after 
having served an apprenticeship of eight years, 
should be turned loose upon society as equal parti- 
cipants in the benefits and blessings of the English 
constitution. Although under such circumstances, 
even Mr. Bright might abate somewhat in his demand 
for universal suffrage, yet, though no other champions 
of the equality of races should spring up to claim 
for these the " rights of manhood," it will be readily 
admitted that the political, moral, and social evils 
which would result, would be a thousand-fold in 
excess of any benefits which might be expected from 
their presence. If Englishmen, who are sincerely 
desirous of witnessing the abolition of slavery in 
the American planting States, from pure and un- 
selfish motives, will bring the matter home to them- 
selves, they will readily admit that the total or even 
partial enfranchisement of four millions of black 
African slaves, amongst a population of eight mil- 
lions of white Europeans, living under a Constitu- 
tion which guarantees equality of right to its citizens, 
would be an act of madness ! 

But to return from this digression : While man- 



142 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

kind should rejoice that this scheme which would 
have produced so much misery to the instruments 
whom it was intended to employ in its prosecution, 
has utterly failed in accomplishing the practical re- 
sults hoped for, yet none can withhold from Great 
Britain the tribute of their admiration, for the bold- 
ness and grandeur of the conception, and the more 
than imperial profusion with which she has lavished 
of her immense resources the amount necessary to 
fairly test the feasibility of nurturing into life and 
giant manhood, this British offspring of the 
American revolution. 

But all her sacrifices were unavailing. Too late 
it was discovered that the African would not work 
without a master ! !N"o stimulants of pride or am- 
bition could move his soul to rise above the level 
which it would seem that the God of nature has as- 
signed to him. While the productions of the slave 
States of America have increased in a ratio never 
before equalled in any country, the possessions of 
Great Britain, where this experiment was inaugu- 
rated, have been receding in the amount of their 
productions, until they now bear no comparison even 
to their former products. All, present to the eye of 
the observer a picture of unbounded desolation — a 
monument of the thwarted schemings of ambitious 
men, who hoped by this means to accomplish the 
double purpose of destroying the possessions of 
another, and of building for themselves a colossal 
power upon their ruins. 

The failure of this scheme, which involved the im- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 143 

possible employment of nominally free African labor, 
led to the inauguration of another, far more revolt- 
ing to every sentiment of humanity than the most 
cruel form of slavery, even in the days when Great 
Britain was the patron of, or participator in all slavery 
enterprises. This new scheme is known under the 
general designation of the " Cooly system," because 
the greater number of those who have been subjected 
to the horrors of this barbarism of the nineteenth 
century, have been Chinese. All the barbarous and 
semi-civilized nations of the world, however, have 
been subjected, in a greater or less degree, to 
the terrors of this revolting system. No other 
records of its enormities are necessary to convince 
the intelligent mind of its true character, than a 
simple detail of the plan and manner of its execution. 
The Cooly broker, by means of his agents, seizes 
upon his unsuspecting victims wherever they can be 
found. These, when brought into the port for ship- 
ment, are confined in the most loathsome prisons, 
and are not allowed to hold any communication with 
their countrymen without. Upon the arrival of a 
purchaser, a paper writing is produced in the French, 
the English, or the Spanish language, as the case 
may be, by which these poor wretches are bound to 
work for their owner for the space of eight or ten 
years, at a promised rate of compensation varying 
from two to four dollars per month. The " free and 
unbiased assent" of the Cooly having been thus 
obtained, he is bound as a malefactor and conveyed 
aboard the ship which is to convey him to his desti- 



144 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

nation. The ship obtains clearance, and sets sail 
with her living cargo of " free laborers," crowded to 
a degree of suffocation which, before the end of the 
voyage, reduces their number from deaths to about 
three-fourths of their original number. In many 
instances, this great mortality is frightfully increased. 
Onboard of one American ship which put into 
Manilla, in 1855, out of a cargo of four hundred 
and fifty souls, three hundred were smothered to 
death in one night from the closeness of the quar- 
ters in which they were confined ! The end of their 
voyage at last arrives. Thrice happy those whose 
sufferings have already ended in death, and whose 
bodies have been cast into the sea. These "free 
laborers" are disposed of to the highest bidder, and 
are placed upon the plantations of the purchasers. 
The owner has only by contract an estate for eight 
years in the sinews of the freeman. His only in- 
terest, therefore, is to concentrate all the physical 
capacity of the man within that compass of time ; 
and rarely indeed is it that there is any substance 
left in him at the expiration of his period of enslave- 
ment. If there is, What means has he to return to 
his native land ? The miserable pittance allowed to 
him has in all probability been paid in such man- 
ner as to be exhausted before the period of his 
freedom commences, and he must sell himself for 
another term of eight years, for the doubtful pros- 
pect of again revisiting his far-off home. Mr Abbott, 
who has written a valuable work upon this subject, 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 145 

says in reference to the details of this inhuman 
system in Cuba : 

It seems to me, that human misery could sink to no lower depth. 
The doom of the Coolies is vastly worse than that of the slaves. 
Those wretched Chinese are lured to leave their homes upon the 
promise of being fed and clothed, and receive four dollars per month. 
Thus, at the end of eight years, they would possess $384. This 
seems like an immense sum to a poor Chinaman, to whom a cent a 
day is a very reasonable competence. But none return! They are 
sold upon their arrival for about $400. If their owner can wear 
them out in eight years, so that they die, he of course has nothing to 
pay, [for their wages, during their term of servitude.] If he can- 
not, he sends them to some distant plantation, or sells them again for 
another eight years. 

This system has been attended with a partial suc- 
cess. So far as present gains are concerned, it has 
the great advantage over slavery of cheapness. It 
is impossible to obtain accurate statistics in regard 
to the numbers of human beings who have been 
thus sacrificed, to find a substitute for the slave 
system of America. It would probably be safe to 
say that the whole number, thus immolated during 
the last fifteen years, does not fall short of two mil- 
lions of souls. With the stimulant of success, it 
cannot be long before the aggregate amount of those 
thus employed will exceed the entire number of 
slaves in the United States ! 

Where slumbers the philanthropy of the aboli- 
tionist of England, while this crime against humanity, 
more horrible far than the worst form which slavery 
has ever assumed, is thus lawfully prosecuted in the 
open face of day ! Where sleeps the piety of Sharp's 
rifle clergymen of New England, while this enor- 



146 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

mous sin is robbing millions of semi-civilized human 
beings of liberty, of hope, of life ! Alas, the foun- 
tains of their sympathies have been exhausted and 
absorbed by their devotion to the " little nigger baby 
robbed from his mother's arms," and, as taught by 
English abolitionism, so they believe that to hate 
anything but the slaveholder of America would be 
but an idle waste of the fire of their holy passions ! 

In instituting a comparison between these two 
rival systems, statistics are wholly unnecessary in 
arriving at just conclusions in regard to their 
respective merits. We may refer to practical effects 
to test the truth or soundness of our judgment upon 
doubtful points, but for arriving at just conclusions 
upon the question here at issue, nothing more is 
necessary than to examine the circumstances and 
terms under which the}^ exist. 

Under the slavery system in the United States, 
the slave is held as such from the cradle to the grave. 
At full maturity he is worth to the owner from ten 
to twelve hundred dollars. The latter has every 
stimulant of gain and self-interest to bring up the 
infant to manhood in the full possession of all his 
natural strength and health. He can only do this 
by sufficient food and clothing and rest from toil. 
"When the slave has attained to man's estate the 
owner has an equal interest in preserving his health 
and physical strength to as late a period of his life 
as possible. This can be done by exacting only in 
a moderate degree the exercise of his physical 
strength. He must be sufficiently supplied with 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 147 

healthy nourishment — he must be warmly clad in 
winter; but above all, he must be made contented 
and happy in order to retain him at his full value. 
Any violation of these rules can only result in 
diminishing the value of the slave and the wealth 
of his own«r. He may change masters, but always 
the same rules and regulations must be observed by 
the new proprietors ; and this is the routine of 
slavery. If the slave is in full health and strength, 
he makes up twelve hundred dollars of the capital 
of his owner. If he is disabled by tyranny, or by 
improper or scanty nourishment, or by overwork, he 
is not only valueless, but an encumbrance and an 
expense ; for the law compels the master to support 
his own slave under all circumstances, or in case of 
failure he is taken awaj? and transferred to another. 
Does a man set fire to his own house for the pur- 
pose of looking upon the conflagration? Would 
he destroy the value of his property for the gratifi- 
cation of his spleen ? 

Such are the cirdUm stances under which the 
slaves transmitted to the Southern States by Great 
Britain are now held. Englishmen should remem- 
ber that there is as great a difference between the 
condition of the American slave of the present day 
and that of his ancestors when first kidnapped and 
sent a savage into their provinces, as between the 
mild government of their model Queen Victoria 
and that of the tyrant Henry the Eighth. Then he 
was a savage anH a cannibal, while now he is civil- 
ized and a christian. I say nothing here of the 



148 LETTERS ON SLALERY. 

actual condition of the slaves of the South, because 
1^ think the candid and unprejudiced mind can 
arrive at just cod elusions without the aid of such 
testimony. Would that all the honest enemies of 
slavery could visit the slave States in person and see 
for themselves the workings of that sysiem against 
which cupidity, malice, prejudice, and ignorance 
have erected such a mountain of calumny and 
hatred. 

Let us consider further and compare the morals 
of the anti-slavery, or so called free labor system, 
which model Christian powers have inaugurated or 
tolerated as a substitute for slavery. 

In the commencement, the horrors of the kid- 
napping and transfer of the Coolies or Africans, as 
the case may be, to the place of their destination, 
are the same in both ; with this difference how- 
ever, that comparatively few slaves are now intro- 
duced into America, and none into the Southern 
States of the Confederacy. However, I propose to 
consider that both are in active operation. Once 
arrived in the country where his services are to be 
rendered, the Cooly's condition and that of the 
captured African sent into slavery diverges. For 
eight years the Cooly is sold ! for eight years he must, 
as a slave, obey the commands of a master ! Suppose 
that the same master is the proprietor of a plantation 
worked by slaves in the planting States of the Union, 
and of another worked b}^ the eight-year apprentices 
in Cuba. We have seen what would be his in- 
centives to good and ill treatment in the former, — 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 149 

how different would be his interests in regard to 
the latter ! Eight years constitute a long period 
for ceaseless toil under a master who has no interest 
left in the victim after the expiration of that period. 
If he can only be worked to death there will be 
nothing to pay ! Upon a reasonable calculation, 
how much of life and vitality would remain after 
this terrible drain of eight years, in a tropical 
climate, upon his powers of physical endurance? 
Could it be hoped that he would ever reach the end 
of a second term, though he had passed the first 
and lived ? 

Every truly philanthropic mind is forced to adopt 
the conclusion that this " substitute " is, upon the 
ground of humanity, not only more objectionable 
than the slave labor which it was intended to sub- 
vert, but that it is and, in its very nature, must for- 
ever be, under any and all circumstances, more cruel, 
more atrocious, more detestable, and more produc- 
tive of human misery than the most revolting form 
in which slavery has ever been exhibited to man- 
kind, even though we trace its history back to the 
period when English cupidity and Spanish cruelty 
first inaugurated the system. 

If this species of traffic in human flesh is con- 
tinued, as it has been prosecuted by the open sanc- 
tion or secret connivance of the great powers, in 
less than half a century its victim^ will, in all pro- 
bability, be greater in number than all the slaves in 
'North America. Already they may be counted by 
millions, and yet no "tracts " nor " songs " have been 



150 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

sent over from England to America to be read and 
sung by the congregations, to stimulate fanaticism 
against the foul wrong. No pulpit, desecrated by 
political parsons, has rung with maledictions 
against the nations which permit the crime. No 
Sharp's rifles have been subscribed by New Eng- 
land clergymen, to assist with powder and ball in 
the extermination of the pirates who pursue this 
"nefarious traffic in blood and sinews." The skin 
of the Chinaman is not quite black enough to win 
their sympathies. 

The anti-slavery party of England, however, has 
perceived that if the judgment of mankind is averse 
to the mild system of slavery which exists in the 
Southern States of America, it is scarcely to be 
hoped that, when the peculiar excitement of the day 
shall have passed away, the "Cooly system" will 
meet with even as much favor. It has, therefore, 
been unremitting in its efforts, to induce the nomi- 
nal freemen in the despotic governments of Asia, to 
assist in supplying her looms with cotton. But the 
return of material has scarcely surpassed in amount 
the weight of the seed which she has distributed. 
They have penetrated every province and island 
embraced within the dominions of the Sultan of 
Turkey ; but the Bedouin and the Druse, the Ma- 
ronite, the Greek and the Armenian, the Christian 
and the Turk, alfke refuse their tempting induce- 
ments. 

The planting States of the South would cheerfully 
and gladly aid them in promoting the growth of 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 151 

cotton in other lands, because it would relieve them 
from their present isolation, and would build up a 
cotton interest, which would not be without its ad- 
vantages to them, as well as to the consumers. No 
observant man can doubt, that the demand for cot- 
ton will keep pace with the supply, even although 
every field adapted to its cultivation, which is ac- 
cessible to European markets, were called into suc- 
cessful requisition. 

But, hitherto, all efforts to induce free labor vol- 
untarily to engage in this branch of agriculture has 
failed, and for the British abolitionist, who is de- 
voting himself to the work of emancipation in 
America, there is no resource left but India. There 
lies that magnificent possession, which has been ob- 
tained at the expense of so much crime and injustice, 
and at a cost of human life, which years ago was 
estimated by millions. There are the untold, un- 
counted millions of a subjugated race, depressed by 
misfortune, exhausted in strength and physical 
courage, by their oft repeated, but fruitless efforts 
to shake off their unpitying oppressor ; and power- 
less now for further resistance against the tyranny 
of an unrelenting master. 

In estimating the sum of real philanthropy and 
regard for the rights of man, which may be accorded 
to British abolitionists for their efforts to eradicate 
the sin of African slavery from America, the un- 
biased mind naturally institutes a comparison be- 
tween their practice in regard to India, and their 



152 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

precepts in regard to America. By what right does 
England hold India in subjection? By what law 
of morals can England lay claim to that extensive 
territory, on a far distant sea, and in another quarter 
of the globe ? Has India ever menaced the integ- 
rity of the British Empire, or injured a hair of the 
head of any Englishman, who had not first entered 
its territory as a master and a conquerer ? Did she 
make the conquest from an} 7 feeling of benevolence 
towards the human family ? She found the inhabi- 
tants in the enjoyment of a great degree of civiliza- 
tion, and she has reduced them to barbarism ; the 
African slave has been elevated from the most brutal 

9 

barbarism to civilization. England found the in- 
habitants of ill-fated India rich and prosperous, and 
she has reduced them to beggary and want. All 
Britain has been enriched by the spoils which have 
been ruthlessly robbed from these helpless Asiatics. 
Their bodies have not been absolutely reduced to 
slavery, for that would have been not only impos- 
sible, but unprofitable. But she has taken away all 
of their substance, and, as admitted in Parliamentary 
Reports, she has, by tortures almost unheard of in 
the annals of civilized nations, compelled the miser- 
able inhabitants to pay the assessments which were 
imposed upon them. What is this but the worst 
and most cruel form of servitude ? for the master 
does not, in this case, leave even a crust of bread for 
his more than slave. If the enslavement of a com- 
parative handful of Africans in America is a crime 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 153 

of such enormous magnitude, where can we find 
words to express the enormity of England's wrong 
to India? 

But is England now to be excused by the moral 
law which is invoked against America, because it 
was the crime of her ancestors ? No ! for she does 
not surrender back to India her long lost liberties. 
She still clutches with a vulture's grasp, the dry 
bones of that carcass, from which she has torn the 
flesh ; and shall not humanity hold her amenable to 
the same laws which she desires to impose upon the 
slaveholder in America ? 

What are the means which she has employed to 
maintain and to consolidate her power over India ? 
The veins of every African, now a slave in the 
United States, do not contain as much human blood 
as has been shed for the accomplishment of this 
purpose. The English and American abolitionist is 
horrified that a Southern planter should " place an 
African in the cotton-field, whip in hand, to drive 
his fellow slave to his toilsome task." At, this very 
moment of time, during a period of profound and 
unbroken peace, England has nearly three hundred 
thousand of the wretched inhabitants of India 
firmed with sword and bayonet, and musket and 
cannon, paid out of the assessment upon the native 
races, who are employed to shed their brothers 
blood, if any resistance should be made, or murmur 
escape them, which might indicate a wish to shake 
off the chains in which they are bound. Is it for 
humanity's sake that Englishmen seek the eman- 



154 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

cipation of the slaves of America ? The history of 
one day, according to the statements of the most 
reliable British authorities, would furnish a record 
of more misery, more destitution, more utter, hope- 
less, unpitied wretchedness, among the subjugated 
inhabitants of India, than would the history of an 
entire generation of all the African slaves, which their 
pseudo-philanthropy would set free. Here again 
the "tracts" and the "songs," sent over for "the 
American congregations" are silent. ~No moving 
story, or pitying verse, recounts the cruel fate of the 
poor Asiatic. "No American pulpit resounds with 
eloquent denunciations of the damning crime and 
sin. No fierce and bloody-minded clergymen of 
l^ew England, subscribed and forwarded the famous 
Sharp's rifle to the Indiamen, in their last great 
struggle against the wrongdoer. Alas ! here again 
the unfortunate Indiaman's skin is not dark enough 
to entitle him to sympathy or assistance. 

I do not wish to constitute myself an arbiter or 
judge between England and India. It is not my. 
province even to decide whether more benefits than 
evils have resulted to mankind from the subjection 
of India by England. "Whatever may be the ab- 
stract rights or wrongs involved in the issue, it is a* 
practical fact, that to-day, as well as in all times 
past, powerful nations and superior races, subject 
and hold in dependence weaker nations and races ; 
and it may be fairly assumed that such will be the 
case in all time to come. It is, and always will re- 
main, an unsettled question, how far civilized na- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 155 

tions may go, in compelling indolent or wicked bar- 
barians to change their brutal habits of life, and 
contribute their due proportion to the necessities or 
the luxuries of the civilized world. But British 
emancipationists may not justly complain if they 
are held amenable to the requirements of the moral 
law, by which they profess to be governed, and 
which they seek to enforce upon others. They may 
be justly brought to trial under the rules which they 
have instituted in their assaults upon the planting 
States of America; and by these they stand con- 
demned, beyond the hope of a reversal, upon an ap- 
peal to any enlightened and unprejudiced tribunal. 
However this may be, India is the field this class 
of British politicians hope will at the proper mo- 
ment rise to increased importance, upon the ruins 
of the American plantations. Would it be too un- 
charitable in "a kinsman born," to intimate the 
existence of an impression upon his mind, that it is 
chiefly to this cause, that the African slave in 
America is indebted for their sympathies ? May it 
not be that the eager interest with which they are 
now watching the progress of their battle in America, 
is stimulated primarily, or at least incidentally, by 
this hope of gain ? Is it not possible, that behind 
the profuse protestations of a purely philanthropic 
interest, there may lurk a selfish purpose, which has 
had its influence upon the British emancipationists, 
who, according to a recent declaration of the London 
Times, " have come up to the aid of abolitionism, in the 
present struggle between the North and the South V 



LETTER X. 

Summary of the relative advantages of different systems of Labor — 
Results of the comparison — Characteristics of Great Britain — An 
Anti-Slavery Poem — Does not fairly illustrate John Bull — Reflec- 
tions of a Philanthropist upon subjects suggested by the Poem — 
The institution of Slavery more Humane now than formerly. 

I have thus briefly glanced at all the various 
systems of labor which have been proposed as sub- 
stitutes for the institution of African slavery in 
America. Each in its turn, has resulted in failure ; 
or those which have been attended by a partial suc- 
cess, the judgment of all enlightened philantropists 
have pronounced to be, in every respect, more objec- 
tionable than the worst form of now-existing slavery. 
So far as practical results are concerned, we stand 
now precisely where we did when Wilberforce and 
his followers preached their first crusade against 
slavery. The confident predictions of that day, 
that free African labor and the cultivation of the 
rich soil of India by the subjugated natives would 
entirely supersede and render valueless the institu- 
tion of slavery in America, have been proven to be 
idle dreams. American slavery has gone on increas- 
ing in value and importance until the present mo- 
ment of time, when, if we could imagine such a ca- 
lamity, its sudden suppression would produce more 
disasters and miseries to mankind than " war, pes- 

(156) 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 157 

tilence, and famine." England, which is the great 
purchaser of cotton, admits that no other system 
can successfully compete in its production with 
slave labor. But many of her leading statesmen 
also insist that if the institution of slavery should 
disappear, the free labor of India, and of other 
tropical countries, would promptly engage in the 
cultivation of those articles which are now obtained 
almost exclusively from slave labor. They believe 
that the large number of laborers who would under 
such circumstances be added to the productive force, 
would be able to approximate to nearly the same re- 
sults which are now achieved under the slavery 
system. 

I can discover no reason for believing that these 
hopes would fre realized. Still less can I see any 
interest which mankind has in making the experi- 
ment even with a certain prospect of success. I 
can perceive that such a consummation might pos- 
sibly be serviceable in increasing the relative power 
and wealth of Great Britain, but I can also see that 
this increase could only result from a greater, or at 
least, a corresponding diminution in the sources of 
power and wealth now in the possession of the 
United States of America. I do not perceive 
that even by this exchange mankind would be the 
gainer in any way. But above all, I can discover 
no advantages in the proposed change which ought 
to induce America to strike so fatal a blow at her 
own power and influence ; and unless our own folly 
or madness drives us to this act of self immolation, 



158 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

no earthly power, having the will, possesses the 
ability to deprive us of our control over that monarch 
of commerce which to-day exercises its peaceful 
dominion over the kingdoms of the earth. 

In considering this subject, I have not only insti- 
tuted a fair comparison in regard to the produc- 
tiveness of If slave and free labor" in what are de- 
nominated tropical products — and, as my brief ref- 
erences have shown, to the advantage of the former, 
but, upon the question of humanity ', we have tested 
American slavery by a comparison not only with 
those systems which have been employed to super- 
sede it, but with the free labor system of England in 
the very heart of the empire, and under the shadow 
of the throne. I am well aware that the vast majority 
of those whose minds have been warpe'dby long culti- 
vated prejudices, will not see the advantages which 
have resulted to mankind through the instru- 
mentality of the institution of slavery, nor the 
enormities of any other system which holds out the 
hope of gratifying their feelings of animosity. 
They will continue to shut their eyes to evils upon 
the one hand, and benefits upon the other, if these 
conflict with their theories; but the prejudices, the 
passions, the injustice of mankind, cannot .make 
truth fiction, nor change right into wrong. Lauda- 
tions of the system of free labor, as illustrated by 
its practical workings, not only in London, but 
throughout the greater part of the world, cannot 
put bread into the mouth of the starving, nor of itself 
bestow a real independence upon those who labor 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 159 

for their daily sustenance. On the other hand, the 
most moving picture of the horrors of slavery cannot 
destroy the existing fact that no other laborers in 
the same field have as many of the comforts of life, 
with as few of its troubles and trials, as have the 
slaves of the Southern States of the American 
Union. Neither can any amount of calumny which 
ignorance, or malevolence, or both combined, may 
heap upon the slaveholder deprive him of that in- 
ward consciousness that he has worthily employed 
the power which the Almighty has placed in his 
hands — that he has been instrumental in diffusing 
amongst the mass of mankind comforts and neces- 
saries, which have contributed in an eminent degree 
to their happiness, and that he has sent forth nothing 
which has ever added to the unhappiness, or in- 
creased the vices of his fellow men ! With all this, 
he feels that in diffusing these blessings, and in ad- 
ding to the wealth, influence, and importance of his 
native land, he has gone on improving the condition 
of those who have been his instruments for accom- 
plishing so much good, until he can safely challenge 
a comparison in this respect with that of any similar 
number of laborers in the world ! 

In my comments upon the policy of the anti- 
slavery party of England, I have done nothing more 
than to test it by the rules which it has laid down 
as binding upon America. If these laws have con- 
demned England, it is not my fault. There may be 
much that may be said in her favor, if it be admit- 
ted or claimed that the exigencies of her situation 
6 



160 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

did not permit her to follow that straight line which 
the rigid rules of abstract right require ; but many of 
her statesmen do not admit that the slave States of 
America shall be entitled to the benefit of such a 
plea, and impartial minds will decide that she has 
no right to an exemption which she is not willing to 
concede to others. The abolitionists of England 
have endeavored, by every means at their command, 
to stimulate the prejudices of the world against the 
planting States of America on account of negro 
slavery. If both were put upon their trial before a 
just and intelligent tribunal, which would be con- 
demned as the criminal most deserving of punish- 
ment? which the most worthy of the approbation of 
mankind ? 

In my references to the English people and the 
English emancipationists, I have been necessarily 
obliged to regard them as a unit.* I have been con- 
strained to consider the acts of the Anglo- American 
abolitionists as expressive of the general sentiment 
of the nation ; and who will say that I have even un- 
wittingly been guilty of an injustice in the conclu- 
sions at which I have arrived ? Suppose that an in- 
telligent historian were called upon to describe the 
general characteristics of the British Government and 
people ; he would say with truth, they stand preemi- 
nent for practical good sense, clear-sighted sagacity, 
self-will, self-confidence, obstinacy, contempt for the 
feelings, the opinions, and the interests of others, 
where they have an interest to subserve, selfish- 
ness, pride, a love of independence for them- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 161 

selves, with an overweening desire to destroy the in- 
dependence of others, indomitable courage and 
boldness, and, above all, a readiness at all times to 
make any sacrifice for the indulgence of these pro- 
pensities. But upon the other hand, who would not 
smile if the historian were to add, that they are 
characterized by the possession of qualities which 
come under the designation of tenderness, or sensi- 
bility, or sentiment, or an unselfish regard for the 
feelings or interests of others, or, in fine, that they 
are distinguished as a people for the display of what 
may be denominated the finer feelings of the human 
heart ? It is fair to conclude that the smile even of 
an Englishman would degenerate into a more boist- 
erous expression of merriment, if the said historian 
were to adduce testimony in support of their claim 
to the possession of these heart-sympathies, by 
quoting lines from the "tracts" or "pious songs" 
composed and sent from England into America, for 
the use of anti-slavery pastors, and their congrega- 
tions ; as for example : 

"I was a helpless negro boy, 

That wandered on the shore ; 
Thieves stole me from my parents' arms: 

I never saw them more !" 

I have said that the Englishman might laugh, but 
to the mind of the philanthropist, impressed by their 
pictures o| the horrors of slavery, these touching 
lines might induce a train of reflections, which would 



162 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

awaken emotions far different from those which pro- 
duce merriment. The thoughts might very naturally 
wander over the pages of English history which 
record the tears, and blood, and desolation of India. 
The ears might hear the cry of anguish which, in 
times past, has but feebly expressed the horrors 
which have attended the subjugation and progress of 
English dominion in other lands. The peculiar 
friend of sombre colors might behold, through the 
mists of the past, the embarkation of Africans doomed 
to hopeless and eternal servitude in Spanish mines, 
or upon the North American plantations of Great 
Britain. From the mast-head of the slave-ship floated 
the flag of that Britannia which "ruled the waves." 
Commingled with the wild shrieks of husband and 
wife, father and daughter, and of that "helpless 
negro boy, torn from its parents' arms," was heard 
alone the words of that tongue which have been 
immortalized by the writings of a Shakspeare and 
a Milton. Incredulous philanthropy might refuse 
to credit even the evidence of its senses, and exclaim, 
" It is a pirate ship and a pirate crew, who have stolen 
the livery of Heaven to serve the devil in !" 

Show your authority, commander; leave not the 
incredulous to doubt about the lawfulness of. your 
honorable calling. The Royal Charter is unfolded, 
which reads that after a long and bloody struggle 
among the Christian nations, Great Britain being 
of the victors, claimed and received as jier portion 
of the spoils, the exclusive right to deal in slaves, 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 163 

and to transport the same from the coast of 
Africa.* 

I have said that the institution of slavery, now in the 

United States of America, is so much more humane 

than that which existed under the rule of those who 

* See the European treaties made during the wars of the Spanish 
succession. 

Those are curious pages in history which record that the madness 
of the eighteenth century throughout the civilized world, embracing 
all the Christian powers of Europe without distinction, was the es- 
tablishment upon the American Continent, by the most cruel and in- 
human acts of barbarity of that same African slavery, which it has 
been the mania of the first half of the nineteenth century to eradi- 
cate, and that too, after the atrocious features of the slavery which 
they created had been supplanted by the mild and almost patriarchal 
system which now prevails, at least throughout the planting States 
of the Federal Union. 

The solution of this apparent anomaly may be readily discovered 
in the great revolutions that occurred between the two epochs -re- 
ferred to, which robbed Europe of the greater portion of its North 
American possessions, and which promised, at no distant day, to free 
the entire continent of America from European domination. The 
slaves, with the territory they inhabited, thus changed masters ; and 
the new possessors, from the condition of vassals, became the equals 
and the rivals of their former masters. 

The enthusiasts who choose to imagine and to declare that this 
public sentiment of the nineteenth century in Europe, had its origin 
in a new revelation of the Divine will, or in some hitherto misunder- 
stood or undiscovered law of Divine justice, and in a consequent 
loftier conception of public morality than was possessed by their 
ancestors, may gratify the vanity of the age by such a solution, but, 
the intelligent reader of contemporaneous history will find no diffi- 
culty in arriving at the conclusion, that this revolution in public sen- 
timent owed its origin and its development, not to moral but to political 
causes. 

The Assiento was a contract or convention between the King of Spain 
and other powers for furnishing the Spanish dominions in America 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

first inaugurated the system, as scarcely to "bear any 
resemblance thereto. In order not to tax the reader 
with the necessity of crediting the mere statement 
of a fact without proof, I beg to refer to some of the 
causes which have produced this change. 

with negro slaves. The Spaniards having destroyed the native Inn; 
races in their American Colonies, supplied the deficiency of laborers 
thus created by importing negroes from the coast of Africa. Tl - 
Genoese first undertook to supply Spain with negroes at a stipulated 
price. They were succeeded by the Portuguese, and after them, the 
contract was transferred to France, and the trade yielded to that 
country enormous profits ; insomuch that Great Britain coveted the 
contract. By the treaty of Utrecht, Philip V, being declared King 
of Spain, at the close of a bloody war in which all the great powers 
were engaged, and in which England and her allies were the victors, it 
was one of the articles of peace between France and England, that 
the contract referred to should be transferred from the former to the 
latter. Accordingly, a new instrument was signed in May, 1713, to 
last thirty years, and the furnishing of negroes to Spanish America 
was committed by England to the South Sea Company, an enterprise 
in which numbers of the royal family of England, the chief nobility, 
and many of the leading statesmen, as well as other citizens in every 
rank of life, were stockholders. In virtue of this treaty, England 
agreed to furnish Spain with one hundred and forty-four thousand 
African slaves, for which it was to receive pay at the same rate 
which had been paid the French. A condition was added, that during 
the first twenty-five years, only one half the duty should be paid for 
such as they should import beyond the stated number. By the treaty 
of Madrid, concluded on the 5th October, 1750, the right of England 
to this traffic for the four years not yet expired by former treaty, 
was re-transferred to Spain, and all claims against the Spanish Gov- 
ernment growing out of the same were surrendered upon the pay- 
ment by Spain to the British South Se^> Company the sum of £1,000,- 
000 — about five millions of dollars. For a more detailed account of 
these transactions, the reader is referred to Anderson's Commerce, 
Robertson's History of America, and other contemporaneous his- 
torians. 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 165 

Formerly trie slaves were savages, and of course it 
was necessary to guard them with more vigilance. 
They did not speak the language of the countries to 
which they were transported, and they were for the 
most part, in fact altogether, distributed b} T the Euro- 
pean powers throughout their colonies. The proprie- 
tors of the plantations often resided in the mother 
country, and governed their slaves by the employment 
of agents. Moreover, there was but a comparatively 
trifling value attached to slaves, and the loss of one 
or a dozen by bad treatment was of but small 
pecuniary importance. 

Now, the slaves are civilized and speak the lan- 
guage of their masters. They may be left in the 
enjoyment of almost as much freedom of action, when 
unemployed, as they desire. They reside with their 
masters and form a part of the household, and their 
masters are themselves the political sovereigns of 
the country, in conjunction with their fellow citizens 
of the same race. Each slave has a large money 
value, so great indeed, that the interest upon the 
capital employed, with other incidental expenses, 
makes it the most expensive labor in the world. If 
free labor could be induced to cultivate the sugar 
and cotton fields, slavery might possibly abolish itself 
on account of its greater cost. The two races having 
existed together for so long a time, it is natural that 
both should now understand and adapt themselves 
to their respective positions. All these causes have 
produced such a modification in the practical effects 
of the system by the improvement of the condition 



166 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

of the slaves, as to divest it of almost all those features 
which at one time shocked the sensibilities of the 
world. It would readily be conjectured that such a 
result would attend the causes enumerated, without 
appealing to existing facts in corrrob oration thereof. 
In considering the probabilities, or rather the 
possibilities, of effecting the abolition of slavery in 
the planting States, and the substitution of another 
class of laborers, it is necessary to observe that 
there are difficulties in the wav which have never 
attended any other scheme of emancipation in any 
other country. In the Northern States of the 
American Confederacy, when slavery became un- 
profitable, it was, in common parlance, abolished. 
This is not, however, literally true. As I have be- 
fore said; no slave was necessarily made free by 
these acts. The dominant race rid themselves of 
a population which had ceased to be necessary or 
profitable, by selling them, before the day of eman- 
cipation had arrived, to the neighboring slave States. 
"With England, so far as the great body of the 
nation was concerned, emancipation in her colonies 
was only a question of pounds sterling ! The Afri- 
cans had never been introduced into England it- 
self, and by consequence thereof, the difficulty of 
greatest magnitude was not encountered — namely, 
the getting rid of the degraded population ! Now, 
the slave States of the South cannot, as the North- 
ern States did, make a profit out of emancipation, 
by removing them to a country where they would 
be more valuable; nor can they, as England did, 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 167 

get rid of the population by the mere sacrifice of 
their estimated money value. The slaves liberated 
in the South, in a body, must, of course, remain 
upon the soil. Supposing that, in a pecuniary 
point of view, the time should arrive when this 
course would be deemed most profitable, there 
arises the political difficulty that the institutions of 
the country are Republican in form, and all whom 
the laws recognize as citizens should have equal 
rights. This fact also precludes the Southern States 
from adopting the " Cooly system," or any other 
which involves the employment of Asiatics or Af- 
ricans, to supply the place of slave labor. 

Inasmuch, therefore, as the European races will 
not, to any considerable extent, labor in the pro- 
duction of cotton, rice, and sugar, it follows that 
with the abolition of slavery, the production of 
these articles in the United States would, to a great 
extent, cease. With the Governments of Europe 
the case would be different. They could transport 
any number of Asiatics or Africans to their colo- 
nies without any danger to their institutions, be- 
cause the mother country would not be effected 
thereby. They could with impunity cover their 
islands and distant possessions with the most bar- 
barous tribes, and protect their property against 
any threatened conversion Ao the use of these sav- 
ages, by a few cannon. But to introduce such a 
population into the United States, in the midst of 
the families of the inhabitants, except under the 
system of absolute slavery, would be an act of 



168 LETTEES ON SLAVERY., 

suicide. It is not difficult to perceive that if 
the abolition of slavery in America can be accom- 
plished, the United States, having no distant colo- 
nies, would cease from that moment to be formi- 
dable competitors in supplying the world with tropi- 
cal productions. 

My object in these letters, has been rather to 
state admitted facts than to make arguments in 
favor of, or against, any particular systems. That 
I have stated them frankly and without any color- 
ing which could pervert their true meaning or sig- 
nificance, will not, I think, be questioned. Whether 
these facts will produce upon the minds of others 
the same convictions as upon mine, will of course 
be dependent upon circumstances. I am well 
aware that I have added no new light to the sub- 
jects about which I have written — the particular 
truths I have stated are known to all. My purpose, 
however, has been to present these isolated facts in 
a body, so that they could be considered together. 
In the investigation of a subject, in order to under- 
stand it, it is necessary to consider all the facts 
which bear upon it. Partisans often select a num- 
ber of admitted facts, and by omitting another, 
establish a falsehood, without having stated an un- 
truth. Oftener, still, they start out by the assertion 
of a proposition which none will deny, and leaping 
over a hundred truths, arrive at false conclusions. 

Never has any subject been treated so unfairly as 
that of the institution of slavery in America. Its 
enemies start out with the declaration that one 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 169 

human being should not be held in slavery by an- 
other, and the abstract fact being generally con- 
ceded, they find no difficulty in concluding that 
the slaves should be set free and their masters con- 
signed to eternal perdition ! The slave States of 
the South have been required to submit the trial of 
their cause upon that single issue of abstract right. 
Every system of Government that has been in- 
vented by man, would be overthrown under the 
application of the same rule. Human institutions 
will not stand the test of a trial against abstract 
right ! I have, therefore, chosen to examine the 
peculiar circumstances in which slavery had its 
origin — its progress, and its present condition. Ad- 
mitting its imperfections, I have compared it with 
the good and evil of all other systems which have 
been devised to supersede it. 

Great Britain, as represented by those who as- 
sume to speak for her, being the head of the anti- 
slavery party, as well as one of the most enlight- 
ened and powerful nations of the world, the ene- 
mies of the slave States of America could not ob- 
ject that, in trying slavery by the ordeal of a com- 
parison with other systems of labor, I should have 
chosen those of one of the freest Governments of 
Europe. They charge the Southern States of the 
American Union with " the perpetuation of a crime 
against humanity,," and by their grand moral in- 
fluence, they have excited, in many parts of the 
world, a feeling of unkindness against the Southern 
people. They have stimulated the excitement of 



170 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

party struggles in America, and have materially 
contributed to enkindle a flame of sectional ha- 
tred, which threatens fatal consequences to the in- 
tegrity and unity of the Republic. 

I have therefore, in considering the defence of 
the South against these charges, continued the com- 
parison which I had instituted in regard to the differ- 
ent systems of labor, and have made it embrace also 
the relative claims of the principal adversaries in 
the encounter to the respect of mankind, on the 
score of philanthropy and benevolence. I cannot 
hope that the enemies of the Southern States will 
reverse the decision which they have already made 
in favor of the powerful assailant, but I trust there 
will be individual instances of moral heroism in 
which truth will be allowed to triumph over 
prejudice, and justice be administered, despite the 
clamors of malevolence or ignorance. 

It is to be regretted that the systematic and cease- 
less assaults of the anti-slavery party of Great 
Britain upon the Southern States should render 
it necessary for them, in self-defence, to turn upon 
their powerful assailant and defend themselves 
by an enumeration of their own faults, vices, and 
crimes. It would be much more in accordance 
with the fraternal feelings which ought to animate 
the two great nations of Anglo-Saxon origin to in- 
stitute comparisons in regard to the benefits rather 
than the evils which each have conferred or in- 
flicted upon mankind. Nor do I doubt that there 
are very many Englishmen among all classes of 



LETTEES ON SLAVERY. 171 

society who deprecate these constant, and irritating, 
and unfriendly assaults upon a community of States 
which England has thus far known only by the 
benefits which she has derived from her intercourse 
with them. But however numerous this class 
may be, their power has never yet been sufficient 
to change or modify the policy or the preponderat- 
ing influence of the nation as a whole. 

Would that the great body of the English people 
could break the chains of prejudice in which they 
have been bound by designing leaders, and refuse to 
follow other counsels than the dictates of their own 
consciences and the promptings of their own in- 
terests ! It is impossible that they can in their 
hearts cherish any feeling of animosity against 
those who have given such a direction to the. legacy 
of slavery, which they inherited from British ances- 
tors, as to offer employment and bread, and luxu- 
ries, which were previously attainable by the rich 
only, to millions of themselves and the poor of the 
^vorld ! Would that they could see in advance the 
evils which will inevitably fall with a heavy hand 
upon the toiling millions of their great country, 
should the mad designs of their ambitious leaders 
be crowned with success. 

Leaving out of question that ridiculous affecta- 
tion of sentimental philanthropy which is so pecu- 
liarly unbecoming and unsuited to the genius of the 
British character, there ought to be^ and but for the 
influence of vain or wicked, or ambitious men, there 
would be a feeling of reciprocal sympathy between 



172 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

Great Britain and the planting States of America. 
While neither is wholly dependent upon the other, 
each contributes materially to the other's prosperity. 
The planting States produce the raw material which 
England fashions into shape. The planter is after 
all but the overseer for Great Britain, while Great 
Britain is but the factor of the planter. Without 
considering the past, if there is any guilt in slavery 
it is shared alike by both, for in the products of 
slave labor they are joint partners. If there is moral 
turpitude in holding slaves, the guilt of those wht> 
knowingly participate in the profits accruing fron> 
the wrong, is the same as that of the active agents, 
By the moral law, as well as by the civil law, all whd 
•participate, either as principals or accessories, in any 
violation thereof are alike responsible and alike 
guilty. 

Let the real philanthropists of Great Britain andi 
her toiling millions call upon their anti-slavery pro-j 
pagandists to change for a season the field of their 
labors. Let them take up their abode within the! 
benighted regions of Africa itself, and there devote 
their time and talents to the work of instilling into 
the minds and hearts of the natives the great and 
glorious principles of the British constitution. 
When they shall have succeeded in elevating four 
thousand — ay, four hundred of its sable inhabitants 
— its kings and nobles included — to the same rank 
and to the same condition of comfort and happiness 
which is now 'enjoyed by the humblest and 
most unfortunate of their four millions of fel- 



^m 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 173 

low-countrymen in America, allow them to return 
and enjoy, in the plaudits of the really benevolent, 
the rewards to which they would then be so justly 
entitled. This field would be all the more inviting, 
because, even though they might fail in gathering 
and garnering the tempting fruits, it would not be 
neoessary for them to pass through blood and strife, 
.and over the desolated homes of their kinsmen, to 
reach the scene of their labors. 

Although in the course of these letters I have 
taken advantage of such circumstances as might, 
even in the estimation of unprejudiced anti-slavery 
men, relieve the Southern States of all responsi- 
bility for the existence of slavery, yet I would be 
doing an injustice to the South and to my own con- 
victions were I to rest her defence upon the plea of 
necessity. Neither will I claim that the shortcom- 
ings of those who are their assailants should shield 
the South from that just' responsibility which she 
owes to God and man for the faithful performance 
of those duties which Providence has imposed upon 
her. Though I have commended to the lips of 
those who have instituted this moral war upon the 
slave States, the "ingredients of the poisoned 
chalice " which they had with so much skill pre- 
pared for others, it was n'ot with the view to avert 
the judgment of that "evenhanded justice," 
which would hold the South to a rigid accounta- 
bility for her own acts. 

It may be a delusion — it may be as charged, that 
there is a fanaticism in the South as«well as in the 






174 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

North — it may be that the calumnies which malice 
and ignorance have heaped upon the citizens of the 
Southern States, and which have penetrated every 
civilized land, have blinded them to their real 
faults — yet the Southerner feels in his inmost 
heart the consciousness that whatever may be 1he 
judgment of to-day, history will record, and pos- 
terity will decide, that the slave States of the 
American Confederacy have been instrumental in 
diffusing among mankind as many blessings, with as 
little of evil or wrong, as any population of similai 
extent in this or in any other age. 



LETTER XI. 

Great Britain — Her interests in American Affairs — Public mind of 
Europe excited by misrepresentations against the South — The 
London Times on Sumner's last speech — "Republican" party of 
America — Its purposes hostile to the South. 

In writing these letters from the old world, I have 
been led naturally to discuss the subject at issue 
between the North and the South in reference chiefly 
to the attitude occupied by Europe upon the same 
question. While disagreeing in opinion with those 
British statesmen who believe that British interests, 
or the interests of any other nation or people on 
earth, are injured by the institution of African 
slavery in America, I have not dared to suppose 
that they misrepresented the opinions of the British 
people. Although as a Southerner, I have much to 
regret and more to resent on account of the unjust 
strictures directed by them against the institutions and 
the people of my native country, I have no disposi- 
tion to turn to account the feeling of irritation 
which this injustice has very naturally engendered 
amongst my fellow-countrymen. I have no desire 
whatever, even if I had the power, to disparage 
the claims of Great Britain to the respect of man- 
kind. I admire the stern and obstinate zeal which 
she displays in maintaining her rank amongst the 
nations of the world. But above all, I admire that 

(175) 



176 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

integrity of character in all the relations of private 
life which, to their honor be it said, is a distinguish- 
ing characteristic of Englishmen. Her history, upon 
the whole, is a record of great achievements of 
which the annals of no other nation furnish a par- 
allel. Her governing classes of to-day are more 
distinguished for their intellectual attainments, and 
their natural and acquired capacities for discharging 
the functions of their high position, than any other 
aristocratic body that ever existed. Their Queen is 
not only a model sovereign, but more than this — a 
model woman. There are a thousand sympathies 
and interests which are common to the two great 
people of the Anglo-Saxon blood. But Americans 
should never forget that an apparently dominant 
party in England have announced that they have a 
deep interest which is in direct antagonism with 
the chief element of wealth and power in the 
American Confederacy. The question now at issue 
between Americans themselves is, shall this ele- 
ment of wealth and power be surrendered ? 

Although it is well known in America that the 
present contest between the North and the South is 
regarded by the British ^ anti-slavery party with feel- 
ings of the deepest solicitude, yet there are perhaps 
few who are aware of the extent to which this feel- 
ing is entertained. The silliest calumnies which 
are set afloat by the abolition fanatics and presses 
of the United States are greedily read, republished, 
and with pictorial illustrations, circulated broadcast 
throughout Europe, and wherever else the English 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 177 

language is read or spoken. The false impressions 
thus created are instilled into the minds of the 
children in their very infancy — they are made to im- 
bibe them with their mother's milk. They are 
taught that the most horrible atrocities are but 
matters of every day occurrence in the Southern 
States ; that men and women, for pastime, scourge 
their African slaves to death, that the children of 
slaveholders are made to participate in these scenes 
of cruelty until they become as brutal as their pa- 
rents. No calumnies are too gross for utterance, or 
too improbable to be believed. If their truth should 
be denied, the response is always ready — " We are 
bound to believe that which the Americans them- 
selves tell us !" 

The Southerner, knowing the falsehood and wick- 
edness of these allegations, is almost tempted to 
doubt the evidences of his own senses. He knows 
that if. there are faults in the treatment of slaves 
by their masters, they are, as a rule, the reverse of 
those which are charged by ignorant or malicious 
commentators. He knows that the feelings of 
kindness and affection between master and slave are 
cultivated to an extent utterly unknown to the in- 
tercourse of employer and servant or apprentice in 
his own or any other country. He believes that 
there are fewer instances of cruelty practiced by 
masters upon slaves in America than even by pa- 
rents upon their own offspring in any civilized free 
State of the world ; though he is also well aware 
that when such instances do occur, they are excep- 



178 LETTEES ON SLAVERY. 

tional in both. The Southerner who reads or listens 
to the recital of these stories in a foreign land is 
silenced by the very magnitude and enormity of 
their falsehood ! It is true that in England these 
atrocities are only charged upon the South, yet 
throughout Europe the geographical divisions are 
m a great degree lost sight of, and even those who 
originate them come in as " Americans " for a share 
of that obloquy which the malice and hatred of a 
senseless sectionalism seek to fasten upon a por- 
tion of those whom they call their fellow coun- 
trymen ! 

The political abolitionists of England, while 
earnest in their efforts to impose upon the ignorance 
and credulity of Europe by exaggerated and heart- 
rending descriptions of the horrors of slavery, are 
still more averse to the frenzied appeals of the ab- 
olitionists in the present contest in America between 
the North and the South. They believe that the 
abolition of slavery can only be accomplished by 
lulling the slave States into a fancied security — that 
violent denunciation reacts by placing conservative 
citizens upon their guard — that the true policy is, 
first to secure the power to control slavery, get 
possession of the government of the Federal Union 
and then they may, without hazard, strike down 
slavery and the slave power forever. In this view 
of the question, although the defeat of Mr. Seward 
before the Republican Convention was regretted be- 
cause of his preeminent services in leading the 
Northern mind in the direction of abolitionism, yet 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 179 

the more sagacious anti-slavery politicians of England 
are satisfied that the nomination of a more obscure 
man will serve more effectually to blind the masses 
in regard to the ultimate designs of the Republican 
party. The late speech of Sumner, of Massachu- 
setts, has therefore been regarded by them with 
manifest tokens of displeasure. They say that such 
ebullitions of malignity from those who have been 
elevated to the position of hero-martyrs are well 
calculated to arouse the conservative element of the 
Union to a sense of the real nature of the present 
conflict, which they insist should only be fully de- 
veloped after they have succeeded in establishing 
themselves in power, and that Sumner's course is 
like that of an over-confident General of an army, 
who sends to his enemy on the eve of the battle a full 
and detailed plan of his intended operations. A 
brief extract from a leading English journal will 
better explain the more judicious, if less honest 
programme, which is furnished for the 'Republican 
leaders : 

It is a part of the destiny of this country, that from its wide- 
spread dominions and universal interests, the concerns of no State 
are indifferent to it. Perhaps the most important foreign question for 
England is, that of American Slavery. Our relations with the United 
States, through trade and community of origin, are so close that it is 
impossible their moral condition should not affect our own. The 
rivalry which exists between the two countries makes it difficult to 
discuss any international subject without the chance of giving um- 
brage. . . . We have the greatest interest in the decay of this 
mighty evil. The reputation of this country for wisdom is at stake, 
for the negroes of the West India Colonies were emancipated not only 
on the ground of humanity, but on the calculation that free labor was 



180 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

more productive than that of slaves. These islands still lie at the 
threshold of the American Republic, and if the stars and stripes 
shall ever float over the walls of Mexico and Havana, the British 
Antilles will be exposed to all the influence of a pro-slavery propa- 
ganda. How important then it is for us that before these great terri- 
torial accessions, which seem inevitable, actually take place, the sys- 
tem of slavery shall have been modified! . . . John Brown him- 
self has not done more harm to the cause of abolitionism in Virginia 
than a man like Mr. Sumner, when he drives the Southern Senators 
to fury by such a violent and uncalled for philippic as our American 
correspondent notices to-day. . . . We must, in the name of 
English Abolitionism, protest against these foolish and vindictive ha- 
rangues. Scarcely has the frenzy caused by John Brown's outrage 
begun to die away, than out comes Mr. Sumner with a speech -which 
will set the whole South in a flame. We can well believe that the 
prospects of the Republican party have been already damaged by it. 
Mr. Sumner is one of that class of politicians who should be muzzled 
by their friends. . . . We may predict that the man who first 
gains a victory for the cause of Abolition, will be of a very different 
temper to the Senator from Massachusetts. — London Times, June 18. 

The influential journal from which I have made 
the foregoing extract is alike distinguished for its 
ability and its remarkable versatility. It does not 
represent the opinions of one man, nor of a political 
party, nor even of a class. Moreover, it never 
v makes war for an idea." Its chief ambition is, to 
present itself always to the world as a reflection — a 
daguerreotype, as it were, of the current public opin- 
ion of the day. If the picture taken does not seem 
accurate in its general outline or details, the inde- 
fatigable operator obliterates the impression and 
takes another, and if need be, another, until the 
likeness. is thought to be without blemish or defect. 
Time, or altered circumstances, or both, may bring 



LETTEKS ON SLAVERY. 181 

about a change, in which event, like a faithful pho- 
tographist, the " Times " adapts itself to the times, 
tries it again, and again presents the lineaments of its 
subject to the world, in the garb, and with the lights 
and shadows, which will set it off to the best advant- 
age. I will not quarrel with this most versatile opera- 
tor, albeit the lineaments of the Southern features are 
painted now in sombre and gloomy and repulsive col- 
ors. I will bide our time, for I am sure the day will 
come when a brighter and a clearer light will shine 
around the sky-light window of the mammoth da- 
guerrean ; and I have an abiding faith that the Times 
will not then prove a laggard in presenting the pic- 
ture to the world, in its new, and changed, and more 
nattering aspect. 
But it is with the present, not the future, we have now 
to deal ; and however much the true American may 
regret, that the public opinion of even a respectable 
body of Englishmen is reflected in the spirit of the 
foregoing paragraph from this leading and influen- 
tial journal, the subject is one worthy of his serious 
consideration. We learn from this article that the 
tfrime of John Brown, and the blackguardism of 
Sumner, are only deserving of censure, by the moral 
code of British abolitionism, because, by exposing 
at too early a period the designs of the Republican 
party, the success of the abolition cause, in which 
England is said to have so deep an interest, will 
thereby be placed in jeopardy ! It is not denied that 
John Brown and Sumner are both laboring earnestly 
in that cause which the anti-slavery party has so 



182 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

much at heart ; but they are indiscreet. They are ex- 
posing the objects of the Republicans before, instead 
of after, the Presidential election ; therefore such men 
should be muzzled ! England has too deep an in- 
terest in the present struggle between the North 
and the South to sit by quietly, and give sanction 
by silence, to such an intemperate exposure of ulti- 
mate designs, as may arouse the country to a sense 
of the impending danger. England, says this 
journal, " has a right to protest in the name of 
English abolitionism," because not only are English 
interests deeply involved in -the overthrow of 
American slavery, but the reputation of England for 
wisdom is at stake, because the emancipation of the 
negroes in the West India colonies, was not alone on 
the ground of humanity, but on the calculation that 
free labor was more productive than that of slaves. 

There is a frank outspoken boldness in the man- 
ner in which the subject is treated for an English 
audience, very different from the policy enjoined 
upon the " Republican" leaders in the United States. 
Slavery, it is true, is treated as an enormous evil 
and a crime that should be abated, but it is frankly 
admitted that the crime and the evil does not con- 
sist in its "inhumanity" but in its declared antago- 
nism to English interests and English dominion. 

The John Browns and the Sumners are censured, 
not because they do not faithfully reflect the senti- 
ments of the Republican leaders, but because such 
premature disclosures are calculated to weaken the 
Republican party, before its full strength has been 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 183 

\ 

consolidated preparatory to the final overthrow of 
the greatest of all the instruments which have con- 
tributed to the marvellous growth of the Republic, 
in all the elements of wealth, prosperity, and power. 
This advice of the British abolitionists is certainly 
prudent,and exhibits much sagacity ; but is it honest ? 
If Sumner and Brown really reflect the spirit of the 
anti-slavery party, why should not the issue be fairly 
made up and presented to the people ? If John 
Brown and Sumner have done no wrong, why 
should they be held up as objects of public censure, 
as men " who ought to be muzzled by their friends ?" 
The Times says that British interests are too deeply 
involved in the issue of the present struggle, to allow 
that the success of the Republican party shall be 
placed in jeopardy by its indiscreet friends. But 
does this constitute any reason why American citi- 
zens, who have so much more at stake, shall not con- 
sider the question at issue in the true light in which 
it has been placed by John Brown and Sumner ? 
"Were the mere words of Sumner as soft and gentle 
as the music of the dying swan, would that change 
the purpose of his party ? and though John Browns 
might cut the throats of their victims while praying 
for the repose of their souls, or while singing hymns 
of glory to the Most High, and uttering exhortations 
to the living to save themselves from a similar ca- 
lamity, by conforming quietly to the requirements 
of abolitionism, would it change the true nature of 
the contest, or should it reconcile the Southern 
people to the chains which are being forged for them ? 



184 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

True Americans should bear in mind, that the in- 
terests represented by the anti-slavery party of 
England cannot be identical with theirs. If it be 
true, as they declare, that British power and wealth 
are to be increased by the success of the Republican 
party, American interests must suffer in a like ratio. 
If, as the Times says, "the most important foreign 
question for England is that of American slavery," 
it cannot be less important for America, because the 
hope of the party here represented, is to build up 
their own system of labor upon the ruins of the 
American plantations. In no other possible man- 
ner can English interests be promoted by the suc- 
cess of American abolitionism, and the consequent 
defeat of the party of free trade. 

Is it true that England has the greatest interest in 
the decay of American slavery? If it be so, shall 
it be recorded in American history that the nation 
which failed to subdue three millions of our ances- 
tors by the sword and the bayonet during a seven 
years war, conquered thirty millions of their descend- 
ants by sowing amongst them the seeds of discord 
without the loss of a single . soldier ? If it be so, 
and if British abolitionists succeed in piloting the 
"Republican" ship into the presidential harbor, 
well may they exclaim in the fulness of their 
triumph, " The defeat of our armies by a handful 
of rebellious subjects, was allowed by the providence 
of the Almighty, in order to prepare the way for 
the complete subjection to British interests, of ten 






LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 185 

times their number, at a later period in the world's 
history !" 

In one thing, the London journal above quoted, 
has fallen into a grievous error. It urges prudence 
upon the part of the Republican leaders, for the 
sake of the great ultimate object which republican- • 
ism has in view. It censures Sumner and Brown 
for intemperance of acts and speech. The truth is, 
but for the Browns and the Sumners, there would 
be no Republican party. Blot out of existence the 
vindictive spirit of such men, and there is no appeal 
left to the madness of sectional fanaticism. If the 
leaders of the Northern mind were only to cultivate 
feelings of kindness and good-will towards the 
Southern people, there woul(J exist no motive suffi- 
ciently strong to urge the Northern people to a 
crusade against the South. The abolition party 
would be reduced to a force so small, that no place- 
seeking politician would endeavor through such in- 
fluences to attain to political honors. 

I do not believe that all the Republican politicians, 
much less the Republican masses, desire to be con- 
sidered as endorsing either Sumner or John Brown. 
Many, no doubt, hope at the proper moment to stay 
the tide of sectional hatred, and after having con- 
quered the South by superior numbers, generously 
propose, upon the fulfilment of certain conditions, to 
leave them in possession of that which they already 
occupy. But these should remember that, in the hour 
of victory, they must press forward, or be left behind in a 



186 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

feeble minority, to be themselves taunted as they 
have taunted others, with the appellation of "dough- 
faces." If the Republicans are successful, he amongst 
their leaders who falters in the work of destruction, will 
only work his own political downfall, without being able to 
arrest his comrades and followers, maddened by the 
resistance which they have encountered, elated by 
success, and thirsting for revenge. 

For the true American citizen, who would avert 
the threatened calamity, there is but one course left 
open which he can follow with any well grounded 
hope of success. All the parties which have nomi- 
nated candidates for the Presidency, profess to find 
authority in the Constitution for all that they pro- 
pose to do. Even Sumner says that the Constitu- 
tion is upon his side, and that it does not confer 
any rights upon the slaveholding States in regard to 
slavery. But it is also a fact, that the hundreds of 
thousands of abolitionists who franklv admit, that 
in order to accomplish their purposes the Constitution 
must be violated, and its provisions set at naught — all 
the leading spirits who pronounce that sacred in- 
strument to be " a league with death, and a covenant 
with hell" — all! all! all! are arrayed upon the Re- 
publican side, and are fighting their battle under 
the Republican banner, and have adopted as their 
candidates, the chosen standard-bearers of the 
^'Republican party." 

The conservative and patriotic friends of the 
Union which is but a creature of the Constitution, 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 187 

and which must perish with it, may well ask them- 
selves if they can hope to preserve it in its purity, 
with such leaders and such associates. 

Beautifully rounded periods in laudation of the 
Union will never save it from destruction, if that 
spirit in the Northern mind which menaces its de- 
struction is not rebuked by both the North and the 
South. All the Constitutions which could be en- 
acted, would be powerless to hold together a con- 
federacy of sovereign States, where the animosities 
of the greater number are a constant menace against 
the tranquillity, the peace, and independence of the 
others. Parties may prove what they choose by 
written parchment articles of agreement, but all 
such compacts will be powerless to perpetuate a 
partnership that would be worth preserving, if the 
members thereof are repelled by a common senti- 
ment of hatred. In this contest, it should be re- 
membered that the North has no domestic interest 
at stake. It is not pretended that the South desires 
to interfere, in the smallest degree, in the affairs of 
the Northern States. No Southern man would ac- 
cept of any privileges in the common territory, 
which were not enjoyed alike by every citizen of the 
Republic. The defeat of Republicanism would not 
deprive the North of a single right or privilege of 
sovereignty, while the success of abolitionism would 
place in jeopardy the liberty, the independence, the 
property, the very lives of the Southern people. While 
the triumph of the Republican party would seal the 



188 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

bond of hatred between the sections upon the very 
hearts of the people, too late, perhaps, its misguided 
followers would find that the fruits of their victory 
would be death. 



LETTER XII. 

Influence of Anti-Slavery Fanaticism upon Religion — Bible Authority 
on Slavery — Increase of Infidelity — Influence of the Clergy for 
Good and Evil. 

In considering the evils which have resulted from 
the unceasing agitation of the anti-slavery question, 
its active influence in producing disbelief or skepti- 
cism, in regard to the truths of the religion revealed 
in the Holy Bible, cannot be overlooked, and should 
not be disregarded. The fanaticism of anti- slavery 
has been for many years past, of all other causes, 
the most fruitful source of infidelity, wherever its 
baneful influence has become a predominating pas- 
sion. The philosophical mind may readily trace out 
the links of the chain which connect abolitionism 
with infidelity as cause and effect. 

Slavery, as a political institution, or as *a question 
involving certain political rights, has been a subject 
about which there has .existed a variety of opinions. 
An investigation in regard to its influence for good or 
evil, leads us to consider the circumstances and causes 
which have produced such a relation between men. 
There are those, however, who condemn the con- 
tinuance of such an institution without regard to the 
causes which brought it into existence, and without 
consideration of the results which may follow its 
abolition. Others excuse and tolerate it in consider- 
ation of various assigned causes ; while others approve 

(189) 



190 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

of it on account of its declared advantages, not only 
to those concerned, but to mankind at large. It may 
be discussed as any other subject would be, involving 
the rights of man, and incidentally the question in 
regard to its moral influence is considered. 

The theoretical principle upon which a democracy 
is founded, is the absolute and unqualified political 
equality of its citizens. A limited monarchy invests 
a certain hereditary right in one or more persons to 
govern the subjects thereof under certain restrictions. 
An absolute monarchy invests one man with supreme 
and unquestioned power over the lives and property 
of his subjects. It does not follow that the monarch 
employs this power in perpetrating deeds of cruelty 
upon those over whom he is placed. Within these 
governments respectively, the inhabitants occupy 
various relations in regard to each other, which rela- 
tions are established by the supreme authority of the 
State. From the earliest period of recorded history, 
to the present time, the relations have been those of 
proprietor and tenant, noble and vassal, lord and serf, 
master and slave. Men's minds, as I have said, differ 
in regard to the political advantages and disadvan- 
tages of the various relations thus established between 
man and man, as well as upon the moral influences of 
each. The great body of mankind live under the 
most absolute and despotic forms of government, 
the rulers of which, as before said, exercise un- 
questioned power over the lives, the personal liberty, 
and the property of the subjects. A smaller num- 
ber are subject to governments in which the power 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 191 

of the monarch is more or less restricted, while fewer 
still are citizens of democratic governments. The 
absolute monarch exercises an authority over his 
subjects far greater than that which is held by a mas- 
ter over his slave ; for in addition to the rights which 
are invested in a master, the sovereign may not only 
dispose of the life of his subject, but he may delegate 
his powers to another. The master holds his slave 
subject to the laws of the land, while the sovereign 
is himself the fountain of all power. Under very 
man3^ governments in which the rights of the subject 
are protected by a constitution, the laws confer 
upon a creditor the right to dispose of the liberty of 
his debtor, and instances have occurred even in the 
history of our country, in which white citizens have 
been sold for a term of years to the highest bidder. 
Mankind have discussed the relative merits of 
these various forms of government, from the begin- 
ning of time until the present moment, without hav- 
ing approached any t nearer to a satisfactory solution 
than in the days when the chosen people of God 
by Divine command bought bondmen and bond- 
maids from the heathen round about, to inherit them 
as a possession for themselves and their posterity 
forever; or at that interesting epoch in the world's 
history, when after the terrible upheaving produced 
by the French Revolution had been calmed for a 
season upon the field of "Waterloo, the victorious 
Monarchs under the inspiration of the mystic dreams 
of a courtesan, established that "holy alliance" 



192 LETTEKS ON SLAVERY. 

which was to give peace and concord to all the na- 
tions of the earth forever. 

The abolitionist of Massachusetts may believe 
with his whole heart that if the institution of Afri- 
can slavery be blotted out of existence, his native 
land will have touched the. point of perfection in 
human government; while the extreme monarchists 
of the Old World may be as sincere in their convic- 
tion that the only existing human institution, more 
odious than that which is thus condemned by the 
Yankee leveller, is that very democracy upon which 
the American Government is founded. Yet who 
may say that the existence of any one of these dif- 
ferent modes of government adopted by man is, 
per se, a sin against God ? Has the Almighty ever 
made such a revelation to man ? If so, when, 
where, and to whom, has the announcement been 
made? "Where has the line of sin been .drawn be- 
tween an extreme democracy and an extreme des- 
potism ? If there is no record of any such an- 
nouncement of the Divine judgment, how impious 
in man to say that he has penetrated the unfathom- 
able designs of Omnipotence, and has discovered 
the line of demarcation? How is it that from the 
creation of the world to near the close of the 
eighteenth century of the Christian era, the now ana- 
thematized institution of slavery has existed, without 
any discovery having been made by mankind of its 
criminality or sinfulness in the sight of Heaven? 
During this period the Messiah himself has appear- 
ed upon the earth, and has left to us the record of 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 193 

his mission of mercy, in the sublime and heavenly 
precepts he has taught us; and yet, during eighteen 
hundred years, his disciples and followers never 
gleaned from his teachings a knowledge of the sin- 
fulness of slavery! 

Notwithstanding this, men have been found in 
this wicked age- — aye ! honored teachers of our holy 
religion, who have presumed to announce that the 
domestic institution of African slavery in America 
is, per se, a crime against the Almighty, and a sin 
which, without repentance, will consign the offender 
to everlasting punishment ! Pulpits in England 
and in America have been employed to give effect 
to this impious doctrine. The deadly sins de- 
nounced in the Bible have, in effect, been held as 
the most trifling vices, compared to the great sin 
of the slaveholder. Churches have been set apart, 
not for denunciations of the sins which were prac- 
ticed by their respective congregations, but of that 
which, if criminal at all' in the sight of God, was 
the crime of another people ! Clergymen have 
stimulated the passions and the fanaticism of their 
hearers, against the domestic institutions of a dis- 
tant State, although it could not be pretended that 
the "crime and the sin" which elicited their elo- 
quent and frenzied denunciations had ever been, 
or was likely ever to be, committed by a human 
being within the sound of their voices. As Peter 
the Hermit, in the days of the Crusades, preached 
to all Christendom that the crime of all crimes was 
to refuse to follow him to the Holy Land, to rescue 



194 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

the sepulchre of Christ from the hand of the Sara- 
cens, and that , the virtue, the practice of which 
washed away all sins, was to follow him in his holy 
enterprise, so have the anti-slavery clergymen stim- 
ulated the fanaticism of their congregations against 
the declared offences of another people, to an extent 
which has, to say the least, blunted the perception 
of their own besetting vices and sins. 

Whether or not the pulpits of the ]N~orth have 
produced the prevailing excitement against the 
citizens of the Southern States, that it exists to a 
most fanatical degree, will not be denied. That it 
is the ruling and absorbing passion of multitudes 
of people, is fully established by the fact that the 
most sagacious, place-seeking politicians have sev- 
ered their connection with old political parties, and 
are now sailing on the current of anti-slavery 
frenzy; as the surest and speediest way to politi- 
cal preferment. 

The imagination of a well-meaning man being ex- 
cited by false or exaggerated pictures of the horrors 
of slavery, and filled with the belief that the exis- 
tence of such an institution is a crime and a sin 
against Heaven, very naturally seeks to find confir- 
mation and authority for such belief in that great 
Book, which reveals the mysteries of the Christian's 
faith, and which he had been taught to believe was 
a sacred emanation from on high. He is startled 
first, by discovering that Abraham held as bond-ser- 
vants, men and women, born in his house and 
bought with his money ! He turns over the pages of 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 195 

the Holy Book, and he reads, (Leviticus xxv. 44 — 46 :) 
"Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which 
thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are 
round about you ; of them shall ye buy bondmen 
and bondmaids. Moreover, of the children of the 
strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall 
ye buy, and of their families that are with you, 
which they begat in your land : and they shall be 
your possession. And ye shall take them as an in- 
heritance for your children after you, to inherit 
them for a possession ; they shall be your bondmen 
forever." 

Finding nothing in the Old Testament to gratify 
the cravings of his morbid appetite, he hopes to 
find that which he seeks, in the teachings of our 
Savior and his apostles — he reads, (Ephesians vi. 5, 
6 :) " Servants, be obedient to them that are your 
masters according to the flesh, with fear and trem- 
bling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ ; 
not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the 
servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the 
heart." 

He searches farther, and finds, (1 Timothy vi. 1 :) 
"Let as. many servants as are under the yoke count 
their own masters worthy of all honor, that the 
name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed." 

Again, he finds, (Titus ii. 9,10 :) " Exhort ser- 
vants to be obedient unto their own masters, and 
to please them well in all things ; not answering 
again; not purloining, but showing* all good fidel- 



196 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

ity ; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our 
Saviour in all things." 

In despair he continues his researches, in the 
desperate hope that perhaps there may still be some 
words of comfort in the little that remains for him 
to read. His eye is at length arrested by a passage, 
bearing an import, which startles his very soul. 
" Can it be I," he exclaims ! He reads and re-reads, 
(2 Peter ii. 19 :) " While they promise them liberty, 
they themselves are the servants of corruption : 
for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he 
brought in bondage." 

And when he discovers that Paul sends back 
Onesimiis, the runaway slave, to his master, though 
with gentle words and a request, amounting almost 
to a command, that he be pardoned for having aban- 
doned the service of his master, and thus fully re- 
cognizing the master's right, he is tempted to ex- 
claim, in the bitterness of his disappointment, 
" the apostle of Christ a slave-catcher !" 

While his researches inform him that, during the 
whole period of time of which the Bible furnishes 
a record, the institution of slavery existed ; and 
that along with the evidences of its recognition by 
the holy teachers, whose writings adorn its pages, 
there is not a line or a syllable in which it is con- 
demned, either by Christ or his apostles, the terri- 
ble doubt crosses his mind. There is ,a natural 
struggle between the passion that absorbs him and 
the religion which his mother taught him. He en- 
ters once more, and for the last time, the sanctuary 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 197 

V 

where he had so often, in days past, listened to the 
words of love which fell from the preacher's lips, 
as he labored to impress upon his hearers the holy 
precepts of the meek and lowly Saviour. Alas ! it 
is no gentle words of charity that fall upon his lis- 
tening ear ! Instead, thereof, again he hears the 
confirmation of his own belief: " Slavery is the 
sin against God and man, which calls aloud for the 
vengeance of the Almighty." 

He reasons within himself: " Is not God perfection ? 
Is he not allwise ? If he had made a revelation to 
man, would it not have enumerated, clearly and dis- 
tinctly, all the great sins which he condemned ? If 
he had appeared upon earth, would he not, with his 
own lips, have pronounced a sentence of condem- 
nation against the sin of sins which was practiced 
before his eyes?" Fanaticism triumphs! He 
throws down the Holy Book, exclaiming, " give me 
an anti-slavery Bible, and an anti-slavery God!" 
These are not my words, but words which have 
fallen from the lips of an excited abolition orator, 
and upon the ears of a gratified and approving 
audience of New Englanders.* 

* " We of the North want an anti-slavery Constitution, an anti- 
slavery Bible, and an anti-slavery God! ! " The author of this rather 
startling annunciation of Northern wants, has been rewarded, since 
the accession of the Republican party to power, by a first-class 
diplomatic mission abroad. The Government to which he was first 
accredited, very properly refused to receive him, but he was subse- 
quently appointed to another, and he now holds the rank at a foreign 
court, of "Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of 
the United States of America." 



198 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

But how could it be otherwise than thus ? And 
who can tell how deeply this feeling of infidelity, 
or at least of skepticism, may have penetrated the 
hearts of those with whom anti-slavery fanaticism 
has become a controlling passion ? If there are 
any who are ignorant of the extent to which this 
sentiment of unbelief is entertained, let him ac- 
quaint himself with the proceedings of anti-slavery 
anniversaries, and note the increasing numbers who 
openly avow their infidelity. 

There is no human engine of good or evil so po- 
tent as the clergy — those who are acknowledged as 
the teachers of religion. In all ages of the world, 
this influence has been a controlling element among 
mankind. When it has been worthily directed to- 
wards cultivating the feelings of love, and of 
charity, and forgiveness among men, society has 
had reason to bless them as benefactors. But when, 
as has too often been the case, even in the history 
of our own religion, they have been instrumental 
in producing strife, and discord, and heartburnings, 
and misery, and bloodshed, society has had cause 
to regret that influence which their sacred calling 
secured for them. 

It is not for me to judge of the motives of those 
who have contributed so powerfully towards build- 
ing up that mountain of hatred, which may be said 
now to be common to a great number of the citi- 
zens of both sections of the American Union. 
Least of all, could I say that those motives have 
not had their origin in a benevolent purpose. The 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 199 

zeal to do good often degenerates into a fanaticism, 
which results in nothing but evil. Fanaticism be- 
gets a reverse fanaticism, and to the eye of the dis- 
interested spectator, or to him who beholds from 
a distance, that which is transpiring, the acts of all 
appear as the acts of madmen. 

We cannot but remember that the same sources 
of discord have existed since the foundation of the 
Union, and we should likewise bear in mind, that e 
they will exist as long as the Confederation en- 
dures ! We know that good-will did once prevail 
between the different members of the Confederacy, 
and why may it not exist again ? If the clergymen 
of the entire North would resolve that, for twelve 
short months, they would preach nothing but 
Christ, and teach nothing but that which he taught : 
if they w^mld, in good faith, call upon their con- 
gregations to exercise toward all mankind charity 
and love : if they would denounce, in the spirit of 
the apostles, the sins which they denounced, who 
can estimate the amount of good which that 
one year might bring forth ? "What a noble field is 
here presented in which to exercise the duties of a 
noble calling! How much of wretchedness, and 
misery, and wickedness, ay ! perhaps of bitter 
strife and bloodshed, they might avert ! 



LETTER XIII. 

Present attitude of Parties in the United States — Success of the Re- 
publican Party will accomplish Disunion — Its Measures examined, 
etc. 

In the preceding letters I have endeavored to 
present a brief view of the origin, progress, and 
development of the institution of slavery in the 
Southern States of the American Confederacy. Al- 
though I may not hope that the facts I have stated 
will change the fixed opinions or convictions of any 
one, yet I trust they will not be altogether without 
influence in directing the attention of tnae Ameri- 
cans to the importance which attaches throughout 
the civilized world to the productions of slave labor, 
as elements in the wealth and power of nations. 
I am con inced that such an investigation will lead 
the dispassionate observer to the conclusion thafy if 
the Southern States "are blinded by their passions 
to the evils of slavery," the anti-slavery party of 
Great Britain is not blind to the disastrous effects 
which its destruction would entail upon the material 
prosperity of America. That there should be a 
party in the United States, formidable as to num- 
bers and respectability, co-operating with these in 
the accomplishment of such a result, either by the 
force of circumstances or a common sentiment, is 
(200) 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 201 

well calculated to excite the wonder of mankind. 
If it be true that this British party represent,fas 
they say they do, the feelings and opinions of the 
English people, then are the " Eepublicans " fight- 
ing the battle of England far more effectively than 
did the British soldiers and Hessian mercenaries 
who contended in arms against our ancestors in the 
days of the revolution. That this party should be 
sufficiently formidable to present a candidate for the 
presidency, with a strong probability of success 
founded upon the common action of all the free 
States of the Confederacy, and that such should be 
the issue, and the only issue pending in such a con- 
test, is a startling fact, the importance of which can- 
not be over-estimated, because it strikes at the very 
foundation of the compact upon which the Con- 
federacy has been erected. 

The subject of slavery, as a question of morals, or 
political economy, or expediency, or abstract right 
and wrong, is one which lilfe all others that affect 
the interests or passions of man, may be a subject 
of, legitimate discussion ; about which mankind 
may differ, as upon other questions in which the 
interests of the human family may be involved. 
The Southern States may naturally seek to remove 
the prejudices against them, which artful enemies 
have succeeded in exciting. They may be willing 
to present their cause at the bar of an enlightened 
public'opinion, as an individual may seek to remove 
unfounded imputations against his honor or integ- 
rity. But the South does not mean thereby to ad- 



202 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

mit that the other States of the Confederacy have 
ampright to vote away the political privileges which 
they claim to have inherited from the founders of 
the Government, and over which they retained en- 
tire sovereignty when delegating certain powers to 
the General Government. 

Great Britain may defend her various systems of 
free labor, ai~ d endeavor to prove that, upon the 
whole, they are respectively liable to fewer objections 
than any others which she could substitute ; but 
though she might fail in leading mankind to her 
conclusions, she does not mean to intimate that, if man- 
kind differ from her in opinion, they have therefore a 
right to change or in any manner to modify her do- 
mestic policy. America has just the same right, if 
she possessed the power, to subvert the internal laws 
and customs of England, as the Northern States 
have to modify, or alter, or in any manner to inter- 
fere with the domestic institutions of the slave 
States. All the citizen* of the Kepublic beyond the 
limits of the slave States, may believe that slavery 
is a wrong and a sin in the sight of God and man. 
They may believe that it was a virtue in Europe to 
establish an institution which it is a crime in the 
Southern States any longer to tolerate ; yet whatever 
may be their opinions upon the abstract merits of 
the controversy, or upon the morality or expediency 
of slave labor, there exists no other external au- 
thority than that of violence for any interfeVence 
with the domestic institutions of the Southern States. 
This can only be accomplished by illegal means, 



ft- 

► LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 203 



and would be an act of revolution, which would 
release the South from the compact of Union. . •• 

Do a majority of the citizens of the. free States 
desire to dissolve the apolitical bonds which unite 
the Confederacy, or to re-organize the Union upon 
a different basis from that established by its found- 
ers, in order that they may control the domestic in- 
stitutions of the Southern States ? and do they wish 
by these peaceful means to declare or to accomplish 
their purpose ? The interrogatory seems to assume 
the possible .existence of a public sentiment which 
at this distance seems almost beyond belief ; and 
yet the dispassionate mind cannot reject the conclu- 
sion, that such a feeling or wish lies at the founda- 
tion of that party which has entered into the con- 
test for the presidency under the title of Republican. 

What are the facts which present themselves to 
our view in investigating the causes of the present 
deplorable state of feeling among the citizens of the 
United States ? Upon what special issues does the 
Republican organization ask for the support of the 
Northern States ? for it does not expect or desire a 
single electoral vote in the slave States. TKe only 
issue they present — the only support they ask — the 
only idea they illustrate is anti-slavery, pure and 
simple ! designedly and sedulously disembarrassed 
of all or any side issues. They expect no aid from 
any except anti-slavery men, and they appeal to no 
passion, but that of hatred-for the slaveholder ! In 
justice to that party., it must be supposed that they 
have a purpose to accomplish, and that such pur- 



204 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. « 

pose must be inimical to the slave States. It cannot 
be that the leaders would stimulate such a torrent 
of vindictive passions between the sections of a 
Confederacy, which in their 'hearts they cherish, for 
the mere purpose of obtaining power and place. I 
give them credit for other motives. 

But suppose this to be the true and only object of 
the politicians, and that these appeals are successful 
in accomplishing their designs. What would it 
signify ? Could it be interpreted to mean anything 
but .the expression of an abstract wish on the part 
of the majority of the Confederacy to dissolve the 
Union, or to reconstruct it upon another basis, 
which would leave with them the Constitutional con- 
trol of the question of slavery in the Southern States? 

Upon the hypothesis that the Republican party 
has -no political purpose to subserve in opposition to 
the rights of the Southern States, by such an ex- 
pression of anti-slavery feeling, the force of its sig- 
nificance, as a demonstration of sentiments averse to 
the longer continuance of the Union, is doubly en- 
hanced. Truthfully interpreted, according to the 
rules of common reason, such an expression of an- 
tipathy to the Southern States or their institutions, 
conveying no intimation of a design to give a prac- 
tical effect to their victory by any act inimical to 
slavery, would mean, that they had ceased to regard 
the Union as worth maintaining. After the ex- 
pression of such a deliberate sentiment of repugnance 
to the fifteen Southern States or their domestic in- 
stitutions, would they not be driven by the force of 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 205 

public opinion without, as well as by their own feel- 
ings, to repudiate a longer political association with 
those whom they had thus formally insulted and 
pronounced unworthy of respect; or to attempt their 
'subjugation and, if successful, hold them as vassals ? 
Would it not be, in effect, a virtual dissolution of 
the Confederacy upon the.terms previously existing ? 
The unbiased mind can arrive at no other conclu- 
sion, than that such a result would of itself, and in 
itself, dissolve the union between the two great 
geographical sections. The chain of the Confed- 
eracy would be broken ! The fragments might, for 
temporary purposes, be re-united by a flaxen thread, 
but its power of cohesion would be gone forever. 

Conservative citizens of the Northern States should 
not delude themselves into the belief, that this is the 
mere expression of an idle threat on the part of the 
South ; for the result would be accomplished against 
the wishes and in opposition to the united protest 
of the Southern States ! 

But upon the more plausible supposition, that the 
Republican party has a political purpose iu thus 
consolidating into one mass the anti-slavery senti- 
ment of the Korth, without any admixture of 
other ingredients, it becomes important to discover 
what that purpose is. Is it that this anti-slavery 
party desires to secure the reins of the General Gov- 
ernment in their own hands, in order that they may 
control the institution of slavery within the States ? 
This would involve a palpable' violation of the Con- 
stitution, and could only be accomplished by violence. 



%. 
206 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

* 

The announcement of such a purpose, is of itself 
an overt act of hostility to the Union, which would 
be utterly inconsistent with an intention to main- 
tain the existing Confederation. The act of con- 
summation would be revolution. Although this is the 
avowed object of the extreme abolitionists, and is 
doubtless the purpose of many who do not give 
public utterance to their designs, yet it is fair to 
presume, that those of the Eepublican party who 
still cling to the Union and the Constitution as the 
anchor of safety, have in view the accomplishment 
of their anti-slavery purposes by other methods. 
We read in all the Republican journals of the more 
moderate and conservative school, the declaration of 
a design to prohibit the farther extension of slavery, 
by excluding it from the territories. I presume that 
I shall not be charged with representing the anti- 
slavery party unfairly, when I assume this to be the 
ground on which every member thereof, embracing 
every shade of opinion, is willing to stand. 

If a proper degree of fraternal feeling existed on 
the part of the Eepublican party towards the South- 
ern States, it might be urged, even if such a prohi- 
bition could be legally accomplished, that it would 
be unkind to the white race, and cruel to the African, 
to insist upon its enforcement — ungenerous to the 
citizens of the South, because it would debar the 
Southern States bordering upon the Free States, 
from abolishing slavery for all time to come. The 
Northern States were not only permitted to rid 
themselves of slavery without cost, feut also of the 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 207 

slaves, by transferring them to the adjoining slave 
States. Here they were purchased by the Southern 
planters, and by this simple process, these objects 
were accomplished without involving the loss of a 
single dollar. The North having thus disposed of 
its slaves, would it be equitable to deny to the 
border slave States a similar privilege ? Does there 
not rest upon the North a moral obligation to leave 
open this one avenue to the consummation of the 
same results, should the institution of slavery cease 
to be profitable, or be rendered from any other cause 
undesirable ? But suppose the number of Africans 
go on increasing in the same ratio as they have 
done since the foundation of the Republic ; within 
the lapse of a comparatively brief period, the African 
population would be equal to the present population 
of the entire Union. When we add to this the na- 
tural increase of the white race, it is easy to perceive 
that no greater curse could be inflicted upon the 
posterity of the Southern States, than thus to con- 
fine the Africans for ever within their present limits. 
It is appalling to contemplate the tyranny which, 
for the protection of the white race, it would be 
necessary to exercise over such a multitude, of 
African slaves, confined within such narrow limits ; 
unless indeed, the ever menacing danger of insur- 
rection should drive the great body of European 
races to seek a more secure asylum, and thus leave 
the country in the possession of the Africans. I 
know there are those who would say that this is 
the consummation they desire, but these are mad- 



208 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

men with whom it were folly to reason. Let sane 
men, however, who do not act upon a principle of 
revenge, or blind hatred, make for themselves an 
estimate founded upon data already furnished by 
our history, of the probable extent of the population 
of the Southern States within a given period, under 
such a prohibition of emigration. They will find 
that like all the radical short-cut roads of abolition 
philanthropy, it leads not only to evil for the master, 
but is also cruel and unjust to the slave. The 
smaller the number of slaves among any given pop- 
ulation of the dominant race, the better is their 
condition, and the more abundant their comforts ; 
while every increase, either in reference to territory 
or population, draws more closely around them the 
restraints imposed by their condition of servitude. 
Intelligent practical anti-slavery philanthropy, would 
seek to increase the area of slavery, when it could 
be accomplished without increasing the number of 
slaves, rather than by circumscribing increase its 
hardships. 

Thus is it ever with the schemes for the ameliora- 
tion of the condition of the slave, which have their 
origin in free States. They are dictated, primarily, 
by a feeling of animosity to the master, and all end 
in disaster to the slave, for whom there is such a 
noisy demonstration of sympathy. 

But as I intimated in the outset, the feeling of 
unkindness or hatred for the South, forms too im- 
portant and essential an ingredient in the composi- 
tion of the Republican party to justify any appeal 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 209 

to their magnanimity, or to any sympathies they 
might be supposed to entertain, for the African. 
The only present defence of the South, therefore, 
against such an aggression upon her equal rights, 
rests in the Constitution. So long as the Union is 
maintained, that is the final arbiter of all disputes. I 
know that the provisions of that instrument may be 
violated — I am well aware that by a wide latitude of 
construction, a false meaning may be attached to 
certain phrases, yet the undeniable principle which 
lies at its very foundation, is the equality of the 
States, and their absolute sovereignty over their do- 
mestic affairs. 

If these reserved rights were respected in good 
faith by all the citizens of the Republic, ages and 
ages might pass away without the occurrence of a 
single act' which could destroy the harmony and the 
unity of the Confederation. What a magnificent 
prospect and reward is thus held out to the true 
patriot, to restrain within the boundaries of the 
Constitution, his generous efforts to improve the 
condition, or reform the vices of his neighbors ! 
Alas! there are. those who will not brook any re- 
straint which interposes an obstacle to the gratifica- 
tion of their passions or their personal ambition. 

If under the Constitution, a dominant section 
may appropriate for themselves all the property in 
lands, belonging to the General Government, they 
may certainly make the same disposition of every 
ether species of property. # Upon the same principle 
they may accumulate a surplus of money in the Trea- 



210 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

sury, and divide it among the States of the same 
dominant section. If the government of the United 
States may, under the provisions, and according to 
the true intent of the Constitution, exclude from 
the territories any one article which is recognized 
as property by any one State, then it may prohibit 
the introduction of any species of property whatever. 
Even if there were not a slave State, no statesman 
in the formation of a charter of Confederation be- 
tween independent States, however homogeneous 
might be their internal regulations, would confer 
upon Congress the power of excluding from the 
common territories, any property recognized as such 
by any one of the States. If it would be absurd to 
suppose the existence of any such power in. a Con- 
federation of States, having similar local Constitu- 
tions, how can it be inferred that either the slave 
or free States which formed the Constitution of the 
United States would have authorized the exercise 
of such power by Congress ? 

To declare that the citizens of one State shall not 
enter upon the territory of the General Govern- 
ment with their property, and that -the citizens of 
another State may, strikes down the very corner- 
stone of the Constitution. It would be a violation 
of every principle of common justice. For if these 
territories' are common property — that is if they 
have been bought by the common purse, or the 
common valor of the Confederacy— then there exists 
no power, except by the Qxercise of brute force, to 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 211 

exclude any one State from an' equal participation 
therein. 

If this exclusion cannot lawfully be made by the 
Congress of the United States, which might be sup- 
posed, at least, to represent the will not only of a 
majority of the States, but of the people, much less 
can any inferior power accomplish the same end. 
For to suppose that a superior can delegate greater 
power to a subordinate than he possesses himself, is 
absurd, and not to be believed. 

Neither if such unlawful power is attempted to be 
exercised on the part of such inferior, can the gen- 
eral Government close its eyes and refuse to see or 
to redress the wrong. The supreme power is bound 
to prevent a wrong if within the compass of its 
means; or failing in this, it must redress the wrong; 
otherwise it is not sovereign. 

I am aware, that here is the great stumbling-block 
for many honest citizens who, from conscientious 
motives, from education, or from prejudices, do not 
desire to legislate in favor of slavery ; or in the lan- 
guage of the Republican politicians, they are op- 
posed to the establishment by Congress "of a slave 
code for the territories." 

Neither does the South ask for the establishment 
of a slave code, in the sense in which it is here 
meant. But the Constitution confers upon them' 
and their property the same rights as are conferred 
upon the free States and their property. The citizen 
cannot protect himself, because he has transferred 
that right to the Government which, having as- 



212 



LETTERS ON 



SLAVERY. 

f 



sumed it, is bound to perform that duty ; otherwise 
such citizen is an outlaw. 

Government is the natural protector of all its 
citizens. It is bound alike to each. This is the 
foundation upon which all its powers rest. The 
government which from inability fails in the per- 
formance of this duty, is no longer entitled to the 
allegiance of the citizen, unless there is a reasonable 
effort made to redress the wrong. But where the 
Government refuses to perform this duty, it abdi- 
cates, and is no longer the Government. 

It follows, therefore, that when the Government 
of the United States refuses or fails to protect the 
Sooth in its equal rights, it abdicates its authority; 
and, ceasing to be the Government of the slave States, 
cannot rightfully claim their allegiance. By such 
an act, it becomes only'the Government of the States 
which it protects. 

Even though the ISTorth might gain a temporary 
triumph by the abrogation of the equal rights of the 
South, yet one day or other it would be made to re- 
coil upon herself. However that may t>e, no other 
construction can fairly be placed upon the Constitu- 
tion ; and however objectionable may be its provi- 
sions, it is the duty of good citizens to conform to 
them, in letter and in spirit. When they seek to 
violate or fraudulently to evade its requirements, it 
is an act of revolution. It is disunion 



LETTER XIV. 

A Confederacy could never be established which did not recognize 
the equality of the States — Position of Parties illustrated — Ag- 
gressions of the South and North considered. 

Within the Republican or anti-slavery party, 
there are many who are willing to admit the im- 
portance of the Confederacy to the general safety 
of the whole, but who detest the Constitution which 
recognizes the institution of slavery, and thereby 
imposes upon the Government the necessity of giv- 
ing the same protection to the slaveholder and his 
property as to the Massachusetts manufacturer and 
his looms. I have already referred to the absurdity 
of assuming the existence of a government which 
would not give full and ample protection to all its 
citizens. I have said — and it will scarcely be called 
in question — that when a government refuses to 
protect all its citizens in their constitutional rights 
it virtually abdicates, and is no longer entitled to 
the allegiance of its citizens ; and in a confederacy 
like that of the United States, it is, in effect, a dis- 
solution of the Union. 

! But let it be supposed that, by common consent, 
and without any popular excitement or unkind feel- 
ing between the citizens of the several States, the 
Union were dissolved into its original elements. 
.The first impulse of many who are now, perhaps, 

(213) 



214 LETTEKS ON SLAVERY. 

unwittingly engaged in the work of destruction, 
would be to re-establish some sort of union as a pro- 
tection against foreign aggression. Let it be sup- 
posed that, in accordance with this sentiment, a- con- 
vention should be called to settle the terms on which 
the new union should be established. It assembles: 
every State is represented; the organization is com- 
pleted, and the President announces, that all is ready 
to proceed to the dispatch of the business which 
called them together. Fifteen slave States and 
eighteen free States are represented. 

A grave member from Massachusetts rises and 
says: — a Mr. President: Before proceeding to ar- 
range the details of the terms upon which these 
thirty-three independent states may form a union, 
for purposes of common defence and other great ob- 
jects, of interest to each", it is. necessary to declare 
the terms upon which* new States, formed out of 
the common territory of this confederacy, ,may be 
admitted as integral parts of the proposed Union. 
As I do not desire to awaken any angry or even un- 
kind feelings by making any special reference to 
certain crimes and sins of enormous magnitude, 
which are tolerated and legalized by fifteen of the 
States here assembled, I propose to accomplish my 
purpose in another way. The Constitution of my 
native State is perfect in all its parts. It is the re- 
sult of the matured wisdom of the greatest states- 
men of this or any other age. Does any member of 
this Convention find in that charter of our liberties, 
any single provision to which a rational objection 



LETTERS ON s'lAVBBT. 215 

ean be made?" After a pause, during which there 
is a profound silence, the gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts continues: "I do not desire, Mr. Presi- 
dent, to force this Constitution upon any of the 
States here represented; and it would Jpe alike a de- 
parture from the great principle of liberty to insist, 
absolutely, upon the adoption of this Constitution 
by a new State before being admitted as a member 
of our Confederacy. I therefore propose to adopt 
the following article defining the terms upon which 
new States may be admitted, to-wit:- — 

"Article I. Any territory of the United States, 
having the requisite population, and complying in 
other respects with the provisions of this Constitu- 
tion, may be admitted into the Union as an equal 
member thereof, Provided the said territory has 
adopted for its government the Constitution of the 
State of Massachusetts. But if said territory asks 
for admission under a Constitution with provisions 
similar t§ the provisions of the Constitution of North 
Carolina, it shall not be lawful for such territory to 
become a State of the Confederacy." 

After the member from Massachusetts has taken 
his seat, a Republican from 'New York rises and 
says: — "Mr. President: Though there is an entire 
coincidence and agreement between the distin- 
guished gentleman who has just addressed the Con- 
vention and n^self, in regard to . that sin against 
God and man which is tolerated, and encouraged, 
and made lawful, by fifteen States here represented, 
yet, I cannot admit that the Constitution of Massa- 



216 LETTERS ON SLAVERY/ 

chusetts is the only one which establishes and con- 
firms the sublime principles of equality and frater- 
nity which are set at naught by the fifteen States 
before referred to. The proposition of the gentle- 
man ignores the existence of a North ! Like most 
of his countrymen, (I say it with all proper respect, 
and without designing that the remark shall be in- 
terpreted in an offensive sense,) the member from 
Massachusetts can see nothing which is worthy of 
admiration beyond the limits of his own State. It 
is notorious that the visions of Massachusetts states- 
men are bounded by the view from the summit of 
Bunker Hill. Let me tell that gentleman that there 
is a North ! a glorious North, proud of her achieve- 
ments in the past, and ready now to make any sac- 
rifice in defence of her honor and her equal rights. 
Allow me, furthermore, to declare in direct terms, 
and in the outset of our proceedings, that the 
Northern States will submit to no invidious distinc- 
tions! They will enter this Union as equals or not 
at all ! It is well for the gentleman to be promptly 
undeceived. Massachusetts is not the North, nor 
is the North Massachusetts. She forms but a small 
integral part, and to that extent she may ask con- 
sideration ; but when she demands that hers shall 
be the model Constitution of all new States, she in- 
sults that great North whose very existence she ig- 
nores. This self-exaltation may be appropriate 
enough on Boston Common or in Fanueil Hall, but 
it is a species of sectional arrogance which is alto- 
gether misplaced in the halls of a Convention, as- 



t 

LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 217 

sembled to form a union between independent 
States. I therefore propose a substitute for the 
proposition before the Convention, and ask for its 
adoption. It is as follows : 

"Any territory of the United States with the 
requisite population, etc., etc., may be admitted as 
a State into the Union, provided the said territory 
has adopted for its government, a Constitution simi- 
lar in its provisions to the Constitution of .any one 
or all of the eighteen Northern States here repre- 
sented. But if said territory asks for admission un- 
der a Constitution with provisions similar to the pro- 
visions of any one of the fifteen Southern States, 
it shall not be lawful for such territory to become a 
State of the Confederacy." 

A member from Vermont rises to address the 
Convention, and says : " Mr. President, I am a plain, 
straightforward, out-and-out Abolitionist. I can 
discover no good likely to result from mincing this 
question. I have not had the opportunity in my 
native mountains to acquire the art of expressing 
my thoughts without calling things by their right 
names. The two gentlemen who have preceded 
me, deal their blows against vice and crime, with- 
out daring to name them, for fear of giving offense. 
Now, Mr. President, I am not afraid to speak my 
sentiments boldly and above board ! The crime of 
all crimes, the sin of all sins, the enormity above 
all enormities, the existing libel upon humanity, 
which is alike offensive to Vermont and to the- Al- 
mighty Ruler of all things is, the crime, the sin, the 



218 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

enormity of slavery, as legalized by the fifteen 
Southern States here represented ! Our most emi- 
nent divines have already made known that before 
the tribunal of Heaven there will be no mercy for 
the slaveholder. ,The Churches of the North have 
announced for him a similar fate ; then why should 
we make Heaven angry, by putting on our kid 
gloves when we handle the monster ? I have there- 
fore to propose in lieu of the two propositions now 
before the Convention, the following: 

" The territories of the Union, being the common 
property of all the States, may be lawfully occupied 
by all the citizens of the free States with their pro- 
perty of whatever kind. But it shall not be lawful 
for citizens of the slave States to reside with their 
property upon any of the lands which are now, or 
which may hereafter come into the possession of 
the Government. 'No State shall ever hereafter be 
admitted into the Union whose Constitution toler- 
ates the existence of slavery." 

It is unnecessary to follow up this assumed dis- 
cussion, or to enumeratefthe arguments by which the 
movers and opponents of these respective proposi- 
tions would defend their proposed measures. But 
we may fairly conclude that the representatives of 
the slave States would propose, in lieu of the pro- 
positions referred to, something like the following : 

The States forming the Confederacy are in all 
respects equal. The sovereignty surrendered by 
each to the General Government is the same; and 



.■ 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 219 

in all other respects the sovereignty of each State 
within its own limits is supreme. 

All territories, lands, or other property which 
may come into the possession of the General Gov- 
ernment, being alike the property of all the States, 
must be held as such. Whenever a territory shall 
be opened for settlement, it shall be alike free to all 
the citizens of all the States. Immigrants from any 
State of the Confederacy may lawfully take with 
them any property recognized as such by the laws 
of their own States. The duty of protecting its- 
citizens being an essential condition of sovereignty, 
the citizens of the respective States shall be fully pro- 
tected by the Government of the Confederacy, in all 
their rights in the territories, against all aggressions 
whatsoever. 

Whenever a territory having sufficient population, 
etc., etc., makes its application for admission as a 
State in the Union, it may be admitted as an equal 
member of the Confederacy with whatever Consti- 
tution the citizens thereof may adopt, provided it 
be republican in form. The said Constitution may 
contain any one or all of the provisions of the Con- 
stitution of any one of the original States com- 
posing the Confederacy. 

It will not be denied that the first three proposi- 
tions above considered, represent fairly the views 
and opinions of the more moderate and conserva- 
tive portion of the Republican party, while the lat- 
ter embraces every claim or demand that any por- 
tion of the Southern States have ever made in re- 



220 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

gard to this subject. The South desires nothing 
more than the recognition of its equal rights, and it 
will be recreant to honor and liberty if it ever sub- 
mits to accept of anything less. 

It is scarcely necessary to discuss the probabili- 
ties of the formation of a new Confederacy upon 
any terms which would accord with the principles 
of the Republican party. Such a consummation 
would be simply impossible. The Constitution 
under which we have hitherto lived, undoubtedly 
confers upon the Southern States the equal rights 
which they would demand under any other which 
might be proposed. It therefore follows that the 
Republican party is not only founded upon the prin- 
ciple of opposition to the present Union, but to 
any other Confederacy which it would be possible 
to erect upon the ruins of that one which they now 
in effect seek to overthrow. 

Am I mistaken in my opinions in regard to the 
intentions of the Republican party ? Are there any 
portion of citizens who give it their support, who 
desire to maintain the present Union, upon the terms 
demanded by the Constitution ? In short, do they 
mean nothing in derogation of the rights of the 
South, by uniting in the establishment of a great 
sectional organization founded upon the single idea 
of opposition to the domestic institutions of the 
South ? If the}'- propose no measure hostile to the 
slave States, why do they give their countenance 
to the establishment of a great political anti-slavery 
party ? Is there any proposition from any quarter 



LETTEKS ON SLAVERY. 221 

to reestablish slavery in the free States ? Has the 
South ever sought either directly or indirectly, or 
does she now seek, to exercise any control over, or in 
anv manner to interfere with, the domestic institu- 
tions or governments of the free States ? Does the 
South deny the North any right which the Constitu- 
tion accords ? Or does she ask for herself any thing 
more than the recognition of her equality under the 
great charter of confederation ? If to these interro- 
gations there can be none other than a negative 
response, I repeat, why should there exist in the 
United States a political anti-slavery party, if it does 
not propose some change or modification of the ex- 
isting institution of slavery, or involve some denial 
of the rights of the slave States ? Republican par- 
tisan leaders would answer, that their organization 
was established'to resist "the aggressions of slavery." 
I must confess that I find it impossible to conceive 
what particular acts are here referred to, for, of all 
the institutions which exist, that of slavery is the 
least aggressive. When, however, the heated parti- 
san is obliged to furnish an illustration of the nature 
of these aggressions, he refers usually to the unfor- 
tunate collision in the Senate chamber between a 
Southern Representative and a Northern Senator. 
This Senator was attacked and beaten by a South- 
erner. It is not necessary to discuss the merite of 
that affair. The act was that of one man ; but if the 
deed was as atrocious as it has been represented, by 
what harsh epithet may we denounce the crime of 
John Brown ? What is there about Sumner that 



222 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

should excite to a greater degree our feelings of 
pity or compassion, than the helpless, victims of John 
Brown's brutal propensities for murder ! Sumner 
still lives to utter calumnies which ought to be suffi- 
cient to gratify the most morbid appetites of his fol- 
lowers. The victims of John Brown and his con- 
federates are in their graves. Yet, strange and start- 
ling truth, the very men and women, who, if their 
power of performance had been in accordance with 
the force of their will would have -immolated the 
whole South, to have avenged the " crime " against 
Sumner, find but/little to condemn in the conduct of 
that monster murderer, Brown, except his indiscretion! 
His "zeal," they say, "was without prudence, but 
his motives were pure and honest!" 

Nothing has occurred within a quarter of a century 
more significant of the unhappy state of feelings 
existing in the Northern States against the South, 
than the effects which the two' events referred to 
have produced in the public mind. And I may 
add that it furnishes a fair index to the influences 
which abolition propagandism has produced upon 
the morals of its adherents. 

I have only referred to this subject to show that 
the chief aggressions complained of by the abolition- 
ists, even admitting the propriety of classing the 
cases referred to in that category, have been exceeded 
a thousand fold in enormity by aggressions upon the 
South. At most, they are not of sufficient magni- 
tude to authorize or justify conservative men, in 
giving their support and influence to a party, which 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 228 

can only accomplish its openly avowed designs, by a 
palpable repudiation of the Constitution by which the 
Union is maintained, and which can only accomplish 
its measures by the sword. If there are citizens who 
are in favor of preserving the present Union, but 
still propose to give their support to the Republican 
candidates, may I ask them how they can reconcile 
the two ? They cannot accomplish the political ob- 
ject they may propose under the present constitu- 
tion, then why should they give expression and form 
to such abstract desire? Is it to gratify or to give 
expression to a feeling of hatred against slavery ? 
Let them not delude themselves. Men do not hate 
vice, but the vicious. They do not hate murder, but 
the murderer. Neither do men hate slavery, but the 
slave-holder. Vice, murder, slavery, are mere words 
which convey to the 1 mind the idea of certain acts, 
which acts must be performed or brought about by 
intelligent human beings, otherwise no passion of 
hatred could be excited. Now let me ask the sin- 
cere friend of the Union, how he supposes the Union 
can be maintained, or how he can think that the 
Union ought to be maintained, when he and others 
constituting a majority of all the States of one sec- 
tion, being a majority of the citizens of the Confed- 
eracy, declare thus solemnly and formally that they 
have given their support to the candidate of their 
choice, with the sole object of giving expression to 
their feelings of hatred against the citizens of fifteen 
States of the Confederacy. Can a love of the Union 
as it now exists, animate those who cultivate and 
8 



224 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY 



give expression to such feelings in regard to one 
entire section of the Confederacy ? Or can they ex- 
pect to excite a feeling of love for any Union what- 
ever, in the breasts of those against whom such an 
irritating warfare is kept up, on account of the ex- 
istence of a domestic institution, for the creation of 
which they are not responsible, the continuation of 
which has become an inexorable necessity, and the 
management of which is, and of right ought to be, 
under their exclusive control ? 



LETTEE XV. 

Duty of Citizens — Republican Measures are the results of unfriend- 
ly feeling ; not the cause — Spirit of the Republican Party incon- 
sistent with a desire to maintain the Union in its integrity. 

Man cannot engage in any work which yields a 
greater revenue of good than in softening the as- 
perities of his fellow-men against each other. In 
the present contest in the United States, is it the 
duty of every good citizen to pause and look steadily 
and calmly into the probable future of such a strug- 
gle. Let him not deceive himself by delusive hopes, 
but watch the current of passing events, and see 
with his own eyes in what direction we are tending. 
Let him pause and listen to the roar of that cata- 
ract whose ominous mutterings can now be dis- 
tinctly heard, even upon the far-away shores of the 
Bosphorus, from whence I venture to send forth 
upon their uncertain errand these words of admoni- 
tion. 

It should be borne in mind that there is a feature 
peculiar to the present attitude of parties in the 
United States which distinguishes it from all others 
that . have hitherto existed. In the past, parties 
have been organized in support of and in opposi- 
tion to certain measures of State policy, which were 
sustained or opposed without any direct reference 
to geographical lines. The people naturally arrived 

(225) 



226 LETTERS ON SLAVERY, 

at different conclusions in regard to the merits of 
these measures, and as their judgments or their in- 
terests dictated, they have arrayed themselves on the 
one side or the other. The discussions growing out 
of these differences of opinion have at times produced 
more or less of bitterness, and personal as well as 
sectional unkindness. But it will be noted that 
these antagonisms originated in the previously ex- 
isting differences of opinion* in regard to ques- 
tions of public policy. Now, this state of facts is , 
totally reversed. The measures advocated have 
grown out of a previously existing feeling of ani- 
mosity, and have no other foundation upon which 
they rest for support. The proof of the truth of 
this proposition exists in every man's mind who 
will consider of this one fact, namely: if every 
trace of bad feeling, or hatred, or sectional animosity 
were removed from the breasts of the people, the 
questions which are now discussed and fiercely sus- 
tained upon the one side, and opposed upon the 
other, would instantly and of themselves disappear. 
Without considering the abstract merits of the 
measures proposed by the anti-slavery or Republi- 
can party, if a contingency could arrive which 
would remove from the minds of its adherents and 
supporters, all purely personal ill will or exasperated 
feeling against the Southern people, its presidential 
candidate could not upon the present issues obtain 
the electoral votes of three States of the Confeder- 
acy. It is impossible that a party in the United 
States sufficiently formidable to carry a half dozen 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 227 

States, or even one State, could be formed out of citi- 
zens who desire to maintain the Union, the inevitable 
effect of whose measures would be, to take away 
from the Southern States their equal rights, to 
render their domestic peace insecure, and to aid the 
anti-slavery party of Great Britain in their effort to 
bring the Eepublic into disrepute, unless they 
were sustained by the passions and prejudices of 
the electors. The friends of the Union in this con- 
test should act upon this existing fact, that the 
angry passions which the Republican leaders may 
make available to their success are not founded 
upon the measures they propose, but the measures 
owe their existence to the angry passions. To ad- 
dress these by controverting the policy, the pro- 
priety, or the justice of their measures, would be 
fruitless, so long as the feeling referred to exists in 
their breasts. To eradicate a disease, the physician 
must go to the root of a malady. Those who would 
labor effectually for the defeat of Republicanism 
should direct their efforts to remove the unfounded 
feeling of animosity which has been implanted in 
the hearts of its supporters. The war of the Allies 
against Russia brought their armies to Sevastopol. 
During the pendency of the struggle, the besiegers 
and the besieged erected their fortifications and de- 
fences, and planted their batteries, to meet the 
exigencies which the varying events of the siege 
brought forth. Peace was finally made, and the 
works of the defenders as well as of the assailants, 
are now neglected and in ruins. Just as war meas- 



228 LETTEKS ON SLAVERY. 

ures are resorted to by nations, when an angry state 
of feeling exists between them which forebodes 
hostilities, so stand the parties to the present con- 
test in the United States. The bitterness of feeling 
which prevails against the South, and the fortifica- 
tions which are being. erected from whence to assail 
the slave States, have produced couDter defences. 
Remove the feeling which produced them, and the 
fortifications and the defences will alike tumble into 
ruins. Eradicate this sentiment of animosity from 
the Northern mind which, while exasperating the 
South, yields no advantage to the North, and it 
would be worth more than all the slave codes which 
the South could ask or a united Congress grant. 
If the feeling is too deeply rooted to be obliterated, 
the most stringent laws which could be enacted 
would be powerless to protect the rights of the 
Southern States. Let then the friends of the 
Union and the adversaries of political sectionalism 
deal their blows at the foundation upon which the 
superstructure of the anti-slavery Republican party 
has been erected. Strike down the corner-stone of 
the edifice, and the walls and domes and towers will 
fall into a mass of indistinguishable ruin. This 
duty, this glorious privilege, I might say, falls upon 
the true men of the North. Hundreds of thou- 
sands have, up to this hour, withstood all the ap- 
pliances of proffered rewards upon the one hand, 
and the certainty of political death upon the other. 
If they should succeed in arresting the calamity 
which now threatens the Confederacy, a grateful 



m 

LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 229 

posterity will unite them in their hearts with the 
fathers of the Republic. If they fail, the conscious- 
ness of having discharged their duty will be a 
reward of far more value than any which would fol- 
low their defection from the cause of their country. 

Those who would labor with a reasonable hope of 
success in the great contest which must now soon 
be decided, should remember that the specific meas- 
ures proposed by the Republican party are mere 
outposts or decoys sent forward to draw off the at- 
tention of their adversaries from the true point to 
be assailed. These may be readily overthrown by 
an appeal to the Constitution, and an exposition of 
the true principles of equality, which are the founda- 
tion upon which the superstructure of the Confed- 
eracy has been erected. But of what avail would 
be this? Others would be proposed; more skir- 
mishing parties would be sent out, which, though 
driven in, would leave the main body intact, and 
as strong as at the beginning. Thus would the 
strength of the national party be frittered away in 
fruitless contests, with insignificant bodies of the 
enemy, and upon the very ground which that en- 
emv selects. 

The only hope of success for the national party 
which holds out the prospect of a victory that wfil 
be enduring in its results, consists in their ability to 
eradicate, or, at least, to soften the spirit of ani- 
mosity towards the Southern States, upon which the 
Republican party alone relies for success. The pro- 
posal to exclude the citizens of slave States from 



230 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

the territories — John Brown insurrections and mur- 
ders — incendiary publications and incendiary emis- 
saries distributed among the slaves, and the counter 
propositions of those who are assailed, are all effects, 
not causes. Kemove the causes and the effects dis- 
appear. Let, then, the main attack be directed 
against the spirit which dictates a wish to inaugu- 
rate unfriendly legislation against the South. 

A citizen of the ]N*orth may be conscientiously 
opposed to the institution of slavery. Be it so ! If 
there should be a proposition to introduce slavery 
into his State, let him oppose it. But he has no right 
to assail a neighboring sovereignty for differing 
with him in opinion, in regard to the management 
of their domestic affairs. I know it is contended 
that in a free country a man has a right to say what 
he pleases; but the fact is, that in a free country, of 
all others, there is a moral responsibility resting 
upon each citizen not to exercise that power indis- 
creetly. A man has the power, and he may also 
have the legal right, to say and to do many things 
which are very wrong ; but if more evil than good 
results from what he savs and does, he has no moral 
right to do the wrong! There may be a dozen 
partners in trade, who have engaged each to con- 
tribute to the joint stock an equal amount, and to 
sha^re equally in the profits. Seven of the twelve 
may assail the private characters of the five, and 
that of their families. They may insist that for 
fear of spreading the infection of their sins by their 
example, the women and children shall not be per- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 231 

mitted to leave their houses. In furtherance of 
this good work they may go farther, and say that 
the children of the five shall not be permitted to 
occupy or enjoy the use of any of the estates or 
farms, which have been purchased out of the joint 
profits of the partnership. The power to make 
such a proposition cannot be questioned. The legal 
right to ask that such a disposition be made, may be 
also conceded. But would not such a suggestion 
be equivalent to a demand that the partnership be dis- 
solved? Can it be supposed that the five would 
consent to continue the " union " upon such terms, 
in the face of an agreement that they should be 
equal partners ? Or would a longer continuance of 
the association be either desirable or proper, after 
such declarations had been formally embodied and 
presented, as the only terms upon which the ma- 
jority would thereafter consent that the business 
should be conducted ? 

"Whether the causes which should produce this 
state of feeling be regarded as real or imaginary, 
would it not be the duty of the seven, in lieu of de- 
manding a proportion of the common estate for 
their own use, to which they could not justly lay 
claim, to say frankly, "¥e do not like you person- 
ally; we object to the manner in which you are 
raising up your families; we are shocked by the 
conduct of your wives and daughters; therefore we 
propose that the partnership be dissolved, and the 
estate be equitably divided, according to the letter 
and spirit of the terms on which it was created? " 



232 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

So may it be said to the supporters of the Repub- 
lican party: Your unfriendly and constant assaults 
upon the Southern States, their institutions, and 
their people, are utterly inconsistent with the posi- 
tion you occupy to each other as partners and asso- 
ciates. The language of your ceaseless tirades 
against slavery and the slave States, are carefully 
collected by the enemies of the Republic in Great 
Britain, and disseminated in every land where the 
English language is read or spoken. These are 
translated into every tongue, and the world ex- 
claims : "What horrible monsters those Republicans 
must be, when, according to their own statements, 
they tolerate a political union with the incarnate 
fiends who perpetrate such enormities against their 
fellow-creatures!" If, therefore, nothing can eradi- 
cate or soften these feelings, they should act like 
men who really feel strong moral convictions, and 
frankly repudiate the political bonds which unite 
them to so much sin. If they do not urge this as a 
sequence, how T can they expect to secure the respect 
of mankind by continuing, for mere gain, that con- 
federation which they believe to be a " covenant 
with hell?" Let every man, then, bring home to 
himself the true question. The spirit which ani- 
mates the Republican party, and the feeling of ani- 
mosity, which is its prime element of strength, is 
utterly inconsistent with a desire to maintain the 
present Confederacy, except from the most sordid 
considerations. Let this issue be fairty and hon- 
estly presented ; and why should we doubt that tens 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 233 

of thousands, who have drifted into this great gulf 
of sectionalism, will once more turn their faces 
towards the shore, and swell the ranks of that civic 
army which is now engaged in, perhaps, its last 
struggle for the Union in its entirety, by the pres- 
ervation of its integrity. Eemember that now is 
the time for action ! This occasion lost, and in all 
human probability all will be lost! Sectionalism 
once triumphant, no human power can restrain the 
onward march of the victors towards that goal to 
which their hopes have been directed. The war of 
subjugation against the South once inaugurated, 
who can estimate the terrible consequences of the 
conflagration which will be enkindled? Let those 
in the North who believe that, from their superior 
numbers, there would be an easy victory, and a 
prompt surrender, remember that the South will en- 
ter upon the struggle with the conviction, that 
while defeat may be annihilation, submission ivould be 
death ! 



LETTEE XVI. 

The madness of the hour — In Europe the Dissolution of the Union 
is expected — A few words to Northern Enemies of the South — 
Conclusion. 

Amid the din of arms, and the roar of artillery, 
and the smoke of battle, and the mad fury of men 
excited by the contest and eager for blood, there is 
small hope that the voice of one man calling upon 
the combatants to lay down their arms, would be 
either heard or heeded. Neither can I hope that 
the words of one, whose only claim to be heard is, 
that he is a fellow countryman, though for a time 
resident in a distant country, will be listened to by 
the excited parties to the great, perhaps the final 
struggle at the ballot-box, for the union, the liberty, 
and the equality of the States, which now moves 
the heart of the great Republic ! It may be that 
even before we are called upon again to celebrate 
the anniversary birth-day of the Father of his 
Country — the immortal first President of the Con- 
federacy — opposing armies of his fellow-countrymen 
may be struggling in deadly strife upon the soil of 
that Virginia which gave him birth, within sight of 
the now quiet capital on the banks of the Potomac, 
which bears his name, and upon the very grave 
where he lies buried ! In view of the impending 

(234) 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 235 

storm, the spectacle now exhibited in the United 
States is indeed a sad one. 

The history of the past teaches us that at times, 
nations are seized with a madness which it were 
even a worse madness to attempt to combat by an 
appeal to reason. This insanity, if I may so de- 
nominate it, though it may have its beginning origi- 
nally in a sentiment of philanthropy, or even love, 
terminates by merging every other feeling into the 
single passion of hatred ! It is vain to attempt 
to deny the startling truth — such is the present 
aspect of that madness which seems to per- 
va.de the people of America ! If ever in the incep- 
tion or progress of this contest, one single element 
of love or consideration for the slave entered into 
the thoughts or hearts of the principal assailants in 
this sectional struggle, it has been supplanted, buried 
beneath the passion of hatred, which that contest 
has engendered ! We who are removed far from 
the scene of this struggle — far from a knowledge of 
the under-currents, and personal jealousies of the 
mere political contest for place and power — see and 
know full well, that it is not love, but hatred on which 
the sectional politician relies for success ; and it is 
that feeling or passion, which gives to the present 
unfortunate contest its vitality. There is no prac- 
tical issue but that of hatred. The success or defeat 
of aspirants for office depend altogether upon the 
degree of hatred which their appeals may produce 
in the popular mind ! There is no single element of 
success, and no % appeal which can secure success for 



236 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

the Republican party but that of hatred ! Americans 
should not for a moment disguise this fact. 

There has been a time in the brief history of the 
great Republic, when the adherents of despotism in 
the old world, regarded with distrust and dread, 
and the lovers of freedom, with hope and satisfac- 
tion and pride, the progress of the great experiment 
in democratic government. Now how changed ! 
Both look forward with a confidence, inspired by 
hope upon the one hand, and by despair upon the 
other, to a speedy disruption of the Confederacy — 
civil war — exhaustion — anarchy — and then the repose 
of despotism. 

For myself, while I, as an American citizen, will 
never admit to be true, the declaration of even mod- 
erate monarchists of the old world, that a govern- 
ment founded upon democratic principles, bears 
within itself the germ of its own dissolution — that 
the turbulance of universal freedom, and the tyranny 
of mere numbers, or dominant geographical sec- 
tions, must end sooner or later in the destruction of 
the liberties of the minority, to be followed by the 
despotic rule of a single tyrant — yet I confess that 
the events of the last few years, and the unnatural 
struggle which they have engendered, involving in 
its progress no practical issue of good to either, 
except that of mere sectional domination, and in 
the future nothing but disaster to both, has made 
me at least less hopeful of the result. 

Never before in the history of any other nation, 
have we evidence of so rapid a march from the 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 237 

weakness of infancy to the full development of a 
hardy manhood, as has been illustrated by the brief 
career of the American Confederacy. It is the pride 
of Americans, at home and abroad, to direct special 
attention to this undeniable truth. "Whether that 
growth in greatness is to be checked, destroyed, or 
continued, is certainly to a considerable extent in- 
volved in the final result of the present controversy. 
It may or may not be, that the present struggle 
between men for political power, will terminate the 
contest for sectional supremacy. But whenever it 
is decided that a geographical division of the Republic, 
owing its cohesion to sectional animosity only, and its 
success to mere numbers, shall triumph over its 
numerically weaker but combined confederates and 
equals, it were worse than madness, it were idiotcy 
to suppose, that with unfettered limbs, and the liberty 
of free action on the part of the oppressed, they 
would not sever the political bonds which united 
them to their oppressors. 

It is quite true that the mere peaceful dissolution 
of these constitutional bonds of union, and the es- 
tablishment of smaller and more homogeneous 
nations, would not of itself abrogate the principle 
of liberty upon which our free institutions are 
founded. But such a separation, accomplished under 
auspices which would leave so much mutual bitter- 
ness in the hearts of the people, which by destroying 
our unity, would leave us comparatively defenceless 
as against foreign^ aggressions, all involving the 
necessity of large standing armies, make the pro- 



238 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

bability strong that our present form of freedom 
could not long survive. 

How can these calamities be avoided ? Madmen 
may answer, " By crushing our enemies beneath our 
heels !" But it is to be hoped, that a majority of 
the citizens of the Eepublic are not thus held in 
bondage by their angry passions, and that the voice 
of reason may yet penetrate the minds of numbers 
sufficiently formidable to arrest the onward march 
to such a catastrophe. Let us not surrender until 
to hope would be madness ! 

If the will exists, the means are at command to 
avert such a calamity, without any surrender of poli- 
tical rights, and without any abandonment of ma- 
tured convictions in regard to politics, morals, or reli- 
gion. The citizens of the dominant section are 
called upon simply to deal fairly and justly with their 
fellow-citizens of the South. They have but to do 
unto others as they would that others under the cir- 
cumstances should do unto them. Let patriots make 
no effort to disguise from themselves or others, the 
true and only questions involved, but in a frank and 
manly spirit, such as would become the monarchs 
of a great nation, seek only an equitable solution. 
The nature, the origin, and the objects of the present 
struggle, we have already considered. "We have seen 
what interests are involved, and who, if any, will be 
the beneficiaries upon a division of the spoils among 
the victors. 

It will be readily conceded, that in a struggle of 
parties for political supremacy in a confederacy of 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 239 

States, the result of which should be brought about 
by a combination of certain States, composing a 
section distinguished by geographical lines, and pre- 

i 

senting but one single issue, and that issue being an 
expression of hostility to the domestic institutions 
of the weaker by the stronger section, and depend- 
ing for success upon the ability of the latter to create 
a feeling of hatred for the citizens of the former, 
could not be regarded otherwise than a menace 
against the independence dnd the equality of the 
States thus assailed. Success under such circum- 
stances, would of itself amount to a declaration on 
the part of the majority, of the dissolution of the 
Confederacy upon the terms previously existing. 
That which would follow would be nothing more than 
to arrange the details of separation or reconstruction. 
When I say that there is no practical issue involved, 
except the expression of an abstract feeling, or senti- 
ment, or passion, I of course refer only to that por- 
tion of the Republican party, who profess that it is 
not their intention or desire to curtail the equal 
rights of the Southern States, nor to destroy or at- 
tempt to modify the institution of slavery within 
their respective limits. If this be true, then between 
them and the South there cannot be an issue, for the 
most extreme Southerner neither asks nor desires 
any thing more than this. For people of the North 
who really entertain these sentiments, intentions, 
or opinions, to unite themselves to the Republican 
party, could not have any other significance than 
simply to announce an irreconcilable feeling of animo- 



\ 



240 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

sity against the Southern States. Upon any other 
hypothesis, why should they combine with those 
whose avowed or apparent purpose is to destroy the 
institution of slavery ? It must be remembered that 
this party is founded, by the avowal of its leaders, 
upon the sole question of slavery. They must have 
some object, some purpose to accomplish; and we 
are bound to conclude that this purpose or object, 
being supported only by men of anti-slavery opinions, 
must have some practical anti-slavery design, and 
that design must have reference to the slave States 
of the American Union, and must contemplate some 
change, or modification, or the destruction of that in- 
stitution. Otherwise the existence of such a party 
would be impossible; for it is absurd to suppose that 
a party can exist without a purpose, at least upon 
the part of its founders and leaders. 

It follows, then, that if the Republican party em- 
braces sane men amongst its leaders, it must have 
a purpose. Being founded solely upon* the sin- 
gle sentiment of anti-slavery, its purpose must be 
inimical to the slave States. Now, why should those 
who have no wish to interfere with the institution 
of slavery where it exists, and who do not desire to 
curtail or to destroy the equal rights of the South, give 
their support to the Republican party, with which 
they differ, and thus withhold their support from the 
opposing party between whom and themselves, on 
the only practical issue, there is an entire agree- 
ment? 

Whatever may be the individual exceptions, it 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 241 

must be presumed that those who give their support 
to the Republican party in the present struggle, do 
so for the purpose of interfering with the rights of 
the slave-holding States, or with a view to give ex- 
pression to a feeling of antipathy or hatred for the 
people of those States. That such should be the 
only issues in a great national election for the choice 
of a President, should of itself awaken the earnest 
attention of every citizen, who in his heart desires 
the perpetuation of a Union which has been attended 
with so many blessings. Let no Northern man de- 
ceive himself in regard to the results of a victory 
thus obtained. If he be a high-minded, honorable 
man, and will for the moment imagine himself to be 
a citizen of a Southern State, he would require no 
other index to the consequences that would ensue, 
than the promptings of his own heart. No threat, 
no declaration, no warning voice from the South, 
could add to the firmness of his convictions, in re- 
gard to the feeling with which such a sentence of 
condemnation would be received by those against 
whom it would be directed, or the consequence which 
would surely follow. 

To the individual exceptions above referred to, or 
rather to the large class of citizens of the North 
from whence these exceptions come, the hopeful 
American can only look for the means of safety from 
the storm which now threatens to engulf the Repub- 
lic. So far as regards mere numerical strength, the 
North is unquestionably the strongest; and if the 
artful appeals of the anti-slavery party, and of other 



242 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

enemies of the South, can accomplish a Union of 
the entire North, so far as mere voting is concerned, 
slavery may be considered as already abolished, and 
the slave States prostrate before their more powerful 
adversaries. 

To you, citizens of the North, who have gained 
much, both in honors and in wealth, from your in- 
tercourse with the South, and who are now found 
in the ranks of her enemies, let me address a few 
words at parting: You have been made rich by 
the spoils you have derived from your improvident 
and free-hearted neighbor. I cannot believe that- 
you are yourselves so mad, as with your own 
hands, to destroy the goose which supplies you, day 
by day and year by year, with its golden eggs ; 
but you are exposing it to dangers which, in a few 
short months, you may be powerless to avert. The 
South pours annually into your lap the tribute of 
its almost boundless resources, for which you pay 
nothing in return, but hard words. You confide 
too much in the forbearance and long-suffering of 
your benefactors. The # South has proven to you 
that she is willing to be fleeced — that she is willing 
the proceeds of her labors shall build up your pal- 
aces, and yield you the means necessary to support 
them. Be content, and do not, in un calculating 
wantonness, place the last feather upon the back of 
the patient camel. 

The South would lavish freely of her wealth and 
the blood of her citizens to maintain and uphold 
the dignity and honor of the Union, and she would 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 243 

glory in its perpetuation to the latest posterity, if 
it might be preserved upon the same principles on 
which it was established. But if you force upon 
her the alternative of surrendering her rights, or 
of withdrawing herself from the Union, be assured 
that her free citizens will, with one voice, accept 
the latter, and start forward with hopeful hearts in 
the new career which will open up before them. 
You ought to be convinced that the South can do 
without you, and that her boundless sources of 
wealth would be augmented, instead of being di- 
minished, by the separation. It is not by any 
means sure that such a result would follow in that* 
North which, strange to say, seems to have 
nothing so much at heart as to render a longer 
union impossible ! 

You insultingly proclaim to the world that " the 
South is a burthen " to you, and that " she herself 
is so fully satisfied of her dependent condition that 
she could not be kicked out of the Union " — other- 
wise you would be gratified if she would take the 
determination to retire and leave you alone, the 
glorious champions of liberty, unstained by unhal- 
lowed associations. These are harsh words ; and it 
is not surprising that the hot blood of the South- 
erner should mount with a redder glow to his cheek 
as he listens to them, and ponders to discover their 
significance. But may not the words you now so 
scornfully utter be but the words of the vain 
boaster? When the hour of consummation would 
arrive, can you not imagine that some of the golden 



244 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

visions of future prosperity and wealth, which have 
made tranquil the moments of your repose from 
the cares of life, would melt away forever in the 
presence of the stem reality before you r 

Be assured in time that, if you force upon the 
South the issue, she can and will pursue her sepa- 
rate career, in whatever direction and with whatever 
success may be decreed by Providence ; and if you 
will let her go in peace, she will thank you, and 
will wish you God-speed, while bidding you a*re- 
luctant though an eternal farewell. If, however, 
your passions, or your pride, or too tardy a 
consideration of your temporal interests, should 
make you seek her overthrow, though your number 
be greater, millions of freemen, with strong arms 
and chivalrous hearts, will meet you with, a bloody, 
welcome when you cross the border. Should the 
first encounter result in the triumph of the invader, 
they will, with one voice, pray the God of battles 
to prosper the right, and they will defend their homes 
and their firesides in every city, on every mountain, 
and on every plain, from the Potomac to the Rio 
Grande, and the shores of the Gulf of Mexico ; 
and you will never accomplish your purpose, 
whether it be to emancipate the slaves or to enslave 
the freemen of the South, until their last dollar 
shall have been expended and their last soldier shall 
have fallen before your victorious legions. 

If, however, you still believe that soft words, spo- 
ken hereafter, when the crisis comes, will induce 
the South to forget the past, and shut her eyes to 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 245 

the hard fate which is being prepared for her, do 
not, let me conjure you, over-estimate your influ- 
ence in the hour of victory, over the excited politi- 
cians, and the maddened, deceived masses, who are 
respectively your leaders, and instruments.* Be 
warned by the fate of others, who, in times past, 
have fruitlessly essayed to stay the tide of popular 
passions, which they themselves had artfully put 
in motion. The reflection that, in losing all yourself, 
you, compass the destruction of your enemy, will 
not, in the hour of your affliction, be held to be a 
sufficient compensation for your own downfall. 

Before you drive the South away forever, remem- 
ber, that although you are of the same race and 
lineage, and your governments are founded upon 
the same general principles, the slave States have 
retained an element of conservatism in their do- 
mestic institutions, which, however repugnant to 
your prejudices may be its features, has hitherto 
reacted upon the entire Confederacy, and has had a 
powerful influence in preserving the whole from the 
dominion of that radicalism and license which mur- 
ders liberty while professing to fight under its ban- 
ners. Remember, that however happy may be the 
people who live under the protecting flag of a free 
government, there lurks in the very heart of every 
purely democratic republic an element which may 
be developed in the form of the most hideous des- 
potism. When passion, instead of reason, sits en- 
throned in its councils, and in the hearts of its citi- 
zens, that latent element of tyranny may be devel- 



246 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

oped into acts of more unpitying atrocity than any 
single despot whose foot has ever pressed upon the 
necks of slavish subjects, would dare to perpetrate. 
That element once aroused to action, farewell to 
all y5ur hopes of future greatness. You may, in 
terror or in anger, direct its fury, for a season, 
against a common foe; you may make desolate their 
hearthstones, and leave their dwellings in ashes, but 
as sure as Heaven's laws are always executed, it loitt 
return to fasten its deadly fangs into your own vitals ! 

In concluding these desultory letters on the issue 
involved in the pending contest for the presidency, 
I may be pardoned for saying, that no mere party 
feeling — no wish to promote the success of this or 
that individual aspirant for the presidency, on ac- 
count of any personal predilections for the one, or 
any unkind feelings for the other, has had the 
slightest influence in deciding me to write them. 
Separated by oceans, and continents, and seas, from 
my native land — standing, as it were, upon the out- 
ermost verge of the civilization of the Old "World, 
beyond which all is darkness — in the midst of de- 
caying empires, whose history, for many centuries, 
is crowded with the records of dazzling achieve- 
ments — surrounded on every hand by the melan- 
choly memorials of once powerful kingdoms and re- 
publics, whose greatness and whose dominion, an- 
nihilated by the sectional dissensions of their own 
citizens, have passed away forever ; the splendor of 
whose glorious deeds, in the day of their pride, has 
only been exceeded by the magnitude* of their igno- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 247 

ble fall ; whose descendants have for ages lived, and 
groaned, and died, the despised and slavish subjects 
of a foreign master ; I have asked myself, if the un- 
happy fate of subjugated and degraded Greece, is 
but a prototype of that which is in store for the 
great Confederacy of the JSTew World !* 

So far as the solution of this question depends 
upon the preservation of the federal Union, I ad- 
mit that I am less hopefulthan at any previous pe- 
riod of my life. I see the indications of an un- 
swerving purpose, on the part of the North, to 
obtain a triumph over the South, by means of its 
numerical preponderance ; and well I know the 
spirit with which the South will meet the issue thus 
presented. 

* Only eight months after the above letter was dispatched to the 
United States, the writer received a letter from a most intelligent 
and accomplished Greek Jady, who has devoted her life to the task 
of raising up her fellow-countrymen from the degraded position they 
now occupy, containing the following reference to American affairs: 

"I learn that the excitement against African slavery in your coun- 
try has culminated in the choice of an anti-slavery President, and I 
perceive that the result has given great joy to your adversaries in 
Europe. I likewise discover, through the same source, that the 
South will resist, and that a great war between the opposing sections 
will, in all probability, ensue. I tremble when I think of such a 
catastrophe ! I cannot but remember that, during the entire period 
of the greatness of my native Greece, slavery existed in a form cer- 
tainly much more to be deprecated than the African slavery of your 
country. When Greece tumbled headlong from the pinnacle of 
power to which she had ascended, it was not from without that the 
terrible blow was dealt, but from the sectional dissensions and wars 
between her own children, which ended by plunging them all into 
irretrievable ruin. " 



* 



248 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

In view of the impending calamity of a conflict, 
whose beginning seems almost at hand, but whose 
end is shrouded in impenetrable gloom; with a 
vivid appreciation of the disasters which may soon 
involve us in a common danger, if not a common 
rain ; in the character of an humble citizen, whose 
passions have been calmed by the startling proxim- 
ity of the menacing danger, I have addressed these 
words, and now send them forth to my fellow-coun- 
trymen. That I am a Southerner by birth, by educa- 
tion, and in all my hopes for the future, I am free 
to declare ; but I am also an American, protected 
in a foreign land by the flag of the Union, and ev- 
ery day I live I appreciate more highly the value of 
the great Confederacy which that star-gemmed 
banner symbolizes. Priceles, indeed, compared to 
the pecuniary sacrifices necessary to maintain it in 
its integrit}^; priceless, even compared with the 
blood which might be shed in defending it against 
a foreign foe ; but detestable as a tyrant, and valueless 
to freemen, when it can only be upheld by a sacrifice of 
the honor and the independence of its members. 



LETTER 



TO THE 



RIGHT HOK. HEKRY LORD BROUGHAM. 



Constantinople, Feb., 1861. 

My Lord : Two events of recent occurrence — 
trifling in themselves, except when regarded in con- 
nection with the peculiar circumstances of the 
times in which they occurred — have contributed 
more towards the identification of your lordship's 
name with the political convulsion which the year 
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
one is now witnessing in America, and with the 
anti- slavery movement, in which it has had its 
origin, than all which you have hitherto accom- 
plished, during your long and brilliant career as an 
English statesman. 

With a zeal which has known no flagging — with 
a resolution which was appalled by no probable or 
possible consequences — with an ability which is 
fully accorded by your adversaries — and with an 
earnestness which would seem to preclude any 
doubt of your sincerity, you have labored for the 
overthrow of that institution of African slavery in 
America, which has existed from a period long 

(249) 



250 LETTERS ON SLAVERY, 

anterior to the incorporation of the Republic in the 
family of nations. 

In this lifetime labor, however, you have been 
identified with others of your compatriots, who 
have exhibited the same pertinacity of purpose, and 
who have probably acquired a reputation almost 
equal to your own as the great exponents of Eng- 
lish sentiment and English policy. 

It has been the fortune of your lordship through 
the instrumentality of the two events referred to, 
to inscribe your name far above those of your fel- 
, low-laborers, in the roll of the recognized exem- 
plars of British sentiment and British policy. 

The first of these occasions offered to your lord- 
ship the opportunity, in an assembly of distin- 
guished dignitaries from almost every nation of the 
civilized world, of proclaiming, in effect, your be- 
lief in the equality of the races of man, and the 
special claim of an African then present to be re- 
garded as a worthy and fit associate for the noble 
Peers of England. 

If your lordship had been contented with the 
utterance* of this simple expression of opinion, it 
would probably have been forgotten by those who 
were your auditors, almost as soon as uttered. If, 
by any accident, a representative man of the mil- 
lions of Anglo-Saxon blood and Anglo-Saxon color, 
who have sighed in vain to attain to that social rank 
and station which you so readily accorded in that 
august assemblage of princes, and nobles, and 
statesmen, to this sooty African, had bestowed a 



LETTEKS ON SLAVERY. 251 

passing notice upon this paragraph in your lord- 
ship's speech, the subject would doubtless have 
been dismissed after a brief commentary, with the 
very natural and charitable observation, that a Peer 
of England had an undoubted right to choose his 
own associates, and might be expected to compre- 
hend better than another the qualifications and 
characteristics of those who should be regarded as 
worthy of such association. 

But your lordship entertained a deeper purpose. 
You desired to hold up to obloquy a great nation on 
the opposite side of the Atlantic ; and, in order to 
startle your audience by the magnitude and the 
.enormity of its crimes, you proclaimed the presence 
of the diplomatic representative of that nation 
which held in the bonds of slavery millions of a 
race of people, of which you then and there pre- 
sented a faithful type, and to whom you assigned an 
equality of social rank with the noble order of 
which your lordship, in the estimation of your fel- 
low-countrymen, is a faithful representative. 

Your lordship's design was skilfully, and artis- 
tically, and dramatically executed. To be received 
and acknowledged as a peer, in such an assembly, 
was certainly, in your lordship's estimation, to be 
placed upon a pinnacle of social and moral eleva- 
tion which few could hope to reach ; while the 
doom of the slaves upon the plantations of Ameri- 
ca was a degradation beyond which there was no 
lower depth. The worthy representative of the 
oppressed, and the official representative of the 



252 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

i 

hated oppressor, were both present before you. 
Both were in a foreign land, and both were 
strangers, and your guests. Disregarding these 
pressing claims upon your forebearance — acting, it 
may be, upon the conviction that the claims of God 
and humanity were more than paramount to all 
other considerations, you held them up, as it were, 
to the gaze of your audience as representatives of 
the victim and of the enslaver — of virtue and of 
vice — of freedom and of despotism — of all that was 
worthy to be loved, and of all that should be 
hated. 

The occasion was one which precluded reply or 
explanation. The generous, the refined, the inteK 
lectual, the noble representative of a despised and 
down-trodden race, stood revealed before your sym- 
pathizing audience, in all the majesty of injured 
innocence ; while there, too, stood the spoiler— the 
embodiment of the stupendous crime of his 
country. 

It would probably be presumptuous in me to 
question the good taste displayed by your lordship, 
either in your choice of the occasion, or in your 
manner of treating one of these stranger guests. 
I am willing to concede that your lordship should 
know better than I the rules of politeness and good 
breeding proper to be observed in an assemblage 
of nobles and high dignitaries, gathered together 
in the great capital of the civilized world, and pre- 
sided over by the Prince Consort of England's 
noblest Queen. Upon this collateral point, I would 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 253 

not dare ^o make up an issue with your lordship, 
, the more especially as your audience, by the ap- 
plause with which it greeted your remarks, has 
already recorded its verdict in your favor. 

The main purpose of your lordship was achieved 
— the contrast you suggested startled the world by 
its magnitude. The irrelevancy of the subject to 
that which your auditors had assembled to con- 
sider, gave to the incident a notoriety which was 
magnified by its very isolation; while the event 
has been perpetuated in the memory of the multi- 
tude by the princely character of the audience be- 
fore whom the scene was so dramatically enacted. 
From that moment, America has recognized in the 
questionable gallantry of your achievement, the 
qualities which have made you the great champion 
of British abolitionism. 

I will now pass to the second event, which has 
served, in a still greater degree, by expanding the 
field of your operation, to strengthen and to con- 
firm you in the position which, by common consent, 
had been previously assigned to you. But, before 
entering directly upon the subject, allow me to re- 
fer to an incident which occurred, not a great while 
ago, at a spot more than three thousand miles dis- 
tant from that great centre of civilization in which 
your lordship moves. 

A murderer in another continent closed a long 
career of crime under the gallows ! There was 
nothing peculiar in this fact, for such has been often 
the fate of murderers in England, in America, and 



254 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

elsewhere. But this was a villain of no ordinary 
stamp. His victims were not stalwart men alone, 
but defenceless women and little children. He did 
not slay in the glare of the noonday sun, as a com- 
mon robber at the head of his band of retainers, 
but he killed in the quiet hours of the night, and 
the* slumbers of innocence were startled by the 
death-shrieks of his unsuspecting victims. But his 
crimes had not their beginning in those for which 
he suffered an ignominious death. They extended 
over a series of years ; and the last, for which with 
his life he paid the forfeit, was by no means the 
worst. I myself have seen and known the unhappy 
victims of his earlier crimes. I have seen and 
known the happy wife and mother — happy in the 
innocence and purity of her life, though humble in 
her station — and I have seen her again in all the 
desolation of a childless widowhood. Dreadful, in- 
deed, were the scenes through which that poor 
woman passed during the brief space of one short 
night. She was sleeping in fancied security when 
the spoilers came to her humble log cabin, and 
passed through the unbarred door to the bedsides 
of her sleeping husband and children. Your lord- 
ship knows the rest, and I will be brief. They 
were four when they lay down to rest, that dread- 
ful night. The morning dawned upon the living 
woman, surrounded by the lifeless and mutilated 
bodies of her husband and children. 

The chief criminal in this drama of blood, em- 
boldened by immunity, changed the scene and en- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 255 

larged the field of his operations. At Harper's 
Ferry, he again unsheathed his bloody dagger, and 
again was the hour of midnight made terrible by 
the death-struggles of his unwatching victims. 
Am I not right, then, iii saying that John Brown 
was a villain of no ordinary stamp? Sane men, in 
a contemplation of the magnitude of his crimes, 
have said that he was mad, while madmen have ex- 
alted the demon into a saint, and mourn for him as a 
martyr in a holy cause ! 

It was upon the 3rd day of December, 1860, that 
his friends and partisans assembled in the city of 
Boston, to celebrate the first anniversary of his 
martyrdom. 

Previous to that time, a letter had been addressed 
to your lordship by the " Committee of Managers," 
inviting you to be present upon that occasion, and 
to join in that celebration. 

Those who knew the fact that such an invitation 
had been addressed to your lordship, were eager to 
learn in what manner you would respond. The 
first impression would naturally be, that your lord- 
ship would treat the missive with the dignified 
silence and disdain with which a nobleman of your 
lordship's exalted standing might be expected to 
meet a gross and studied insult ; or, that your in- 
dignation, obtaining the mastery of your better 
judgment, might induce you, in that burning elo- 
quence of words, which your lordship can so readily 
command, to hurl back the insult in the faces of 
your traducers ; or, milder and more humane than 
9 



256 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

either, and, perhaps, more in consonance with the 
gentle manners which might be expected to distin- 
guish those through whose veins flows gentle blood, 
you would have responded, "It is not my sins but 
your insanity, which has led you to believe that I 
could hold fellowship with the partisans and ad- 
mirers of an assassin. Go ! you are madmen, and 
I forgive you." 

These thoughts, I confess, were my thoughts, and 
that I give them voice here will show to your lord- 
ship that I did not rank you amongst the vicious 
and blood-thirsty fanatics with whom a common sen- 
timent, upon a single point, had served in some 
measure to identify you. Besides, I will add, that 
my high respect for the exalted order to which you 
belong, as well as the position in which you stand 
towards the occupant of a throne, induced in my 
mind the belief that you would, in some manner, 
exhibit your horror of the crime of assassination, 
and with such an emphasis that even madmen might 
never again give expression to the thought that 
an English nobleman could have any sympathies 
in common with either assassins or their partisans. 

Pardon me, my lord, if I, in unconscious igno- 
rance, did not estimate, at their proper value, the re- 
fined principles of that "higher law" which have 
been incorporated among the doctrines of that so- 
called great humanitarian anti-slavery party, of which 
you are so distinguished a chief. 

At first view it might occasion surprise that the 
"philanthropists" of Great Britain should seem to 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 257 

shut their eyes to the spectacle, and their ears to the 
wail of woe which rises up around them from the 
millions of the unhappy, the destitute, and depressed, 
of their own race and kin, who live through life a 
lingering death, while they have only eyes to see, 
and ears to hear, and tears to shed over the reputed 
wrongs of a handful of Africans upon the far-off 
shores of a continent beyond the Atlantic. But it 
is necessary in charity to remember that the degra- 
dation and wrongs of the one are familiar to them 
from youth to old age. It is an oft-told tale, to which 
they have become accustomed, familiar, and perhaps 
indifferent from its constant repetition. They are 
probably appalled by the magnitute of the evil, and 
ask to forget its existence and their obligations by 
the exhibition of redoubled zeal in the cause of those 
whom their imaginations, excited by heart-rending 
romances, picture as the victims of sorrow and op- 
pression in a far distant land. 

From this brief but not unnatural digression, I will 
return to the subject of the invitation which was 
given to you to participate in the celebration in 
memory of John Brown, the great American mur- 
derer. Permit me to refresh your memory with the 
first lines of your response to the committee in 
your own language : 

" Sir : I feel honored by the invitation to attend 
the Boston Convention." 

Upon reading these few emphatic words, I paused 
and re-read the letter of invitation which had been 
addressed to you, to discover if I had not, in my 



258 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

hasty perusal thereof, misunderstood its import and 
object. I beg to quote its words : 

" My Lord : A number of young men, earnestly 
desirous of devoting themselves to the work of eradi- 
cating slavery in the United States, respectfully in- 
vite you to meet them in a public convention, to be 
held in this city on Monday, the 3d day of Decem- 
ber. ***** It seems to them that the an- 
niversary of the death of John Brown, who was 
killed for attempting to decide this problem in the 
mode that he believed to be the most efficient, is an 
occasion peculiarly appropriate for the discussion of 
our duty to the race for whom he suffered. * * * 
* * It would be a work of supererogation now to 
defend John Brown, and a useless waste of time to 
eulogize him. Leaving both these duties to the 
coming ages, let us seek to continue his life by striving 
to accomplish what he left us to finish." 

It is true ,my lord, that you modified somewhat the 
only legitimate interpretation of your first emphatic 
endorsement. True, as " the representative of the 
anti-slavery party in England," you avowed a wide 
difference of opinion between those you represented 
and the promoters of the Harper's Ferry expedition. 
True, you denied that John Brown was a real martyr. 
True, you declared your opposition to the encourage- 
ment of negro insurrections, because " they might 
prove less hurtful to the master than the slave." True, 
you intimated that the surest means of accomplish- 
ing your cherished schemes of American negro 
emancipation was under the form of law, through 



d 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 259 

the instrumentality of a recent political change in 
the Government of the Republic ! But preeminent 
above all other considerations which are suggested 
by a perusal of your letter, stands forth the declara- 
tion that you "feel honored by the invitation to attend 
the Boston Convention !" 

"What a spectacle is here presented, and how fruit- 
ful a theme for reflection ! An English nobleman 
shaking hands across the ocean and transmitting 
pleasant messages to such an assemblage, convened 
for such a purpose! 

It is, perhaps, not unworthy of apassing thought, that 
while some of your admirers have hailed your letter 
as furnishing evidence of the conservatism and mo- 
deration of British abolitionism, many have regarded 
your slight deviation from the bloody path of an ex- 
treme fanaticism as too great a concession to the dic- 
tates of an uncalculating and weakly-relenting hu- 
manity. 

I confess that upon this subject there is a chasm 
between us, so broad and so deep, that I have not 
the hardihood to attempt to fill it up. I cannot hope 
even that anything will ever occur to reduce the 
breadth of this impassable gulf to smaller dimen- 
sions. 

But pardon me, my lord, if I suggest the possi- 
bility that you may not have fully appreciated the 
deep significance of the first sentence of your memo- 
rable letter. Did you reflect upon the powerful in- 
fluence which your slightest word of encouragement 
might exercise upon the furious madmen whom you 



260 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

addressed ? Do you believe they will fail to infer 
that while you disclaim sympathy with John Brown's 
plans of emancipation "because they are less likely 
to result in injury to the master than the slave," you 
will, nevertheless, regard it as an honor to be invited 
to attend the celebrations consequent upon the death 
of other martyrs in the same cause ? Do you excuse 
yourself, my lord, with the thought that it is only 
the assassins of slave-holders in America who are 
worthy to be treated with so much kindness, respect, 
and forbearance ? Have you forgotten from whom, 
and under whose auspices, American slaves were 
acquired as chattels ? May I be pardoned for saying 
that in the family of the writer there is a slave, 
bought and paid for by my ancestor from a British 
subject in a British province, under the solemn sanc- 
tion and approval of British laws, and who is now 
held as a slave under the guarantee of a British title 
deed ? Should another John Brown, under the pre- 
text of giving freedom to this slave, slay the owner 
thereof, and for his crime suffer a felon's death, 
would your lordship feel honored by an invitation 
to attend the anniversary celebration of his " mar- 
tyrdom?" Your lordship has already answered the 
interrogatory in the affirmative. 

The day may come, my lord, when " even-handed 
justice will commend the ingredients of the poisoned 
chalice to your own lips." There are more shining 
marks for the assassin's dagger than the slave-owners 
of America ! Millions of lives stand between the 
honored felon and the accomplishment of his bloody 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 261 

work of philanthropy ; a thousand times your lord- 
ship might have the privilege of acknowledging 
" the honor" of invitations to attend and participate 
in the celebration of events similar to those which 
were enacted at Harper's Ferry, and as often might 
" English philanthropy" palliate or excuse the crimes 
in which they had their origin, and still there would 
be a sea of living blood coursing through the veins 
of slaveholders ! There are millions of the human 
race who, bound in the chains of political servitude, 
are ready to believe that they behold but one living 
man standing between themselves and the liberty to 
which they aspire ! that one life less, and the fetters 
would fall from their liberated limbs ! You may 
truly believe, my lord, that no such danger may 
threaten England's Sovereign. Even madmen would 
not strike at one whose noble virtues have added a 
brighter gem to the British Crown than was ever 
placed there by the valor of British arms. But 
England's best and noblest Queen must die, and be 
succeeded by sovereigns who may not imitate her 
virtues. If a British nobleman, of such world-wide 
reputation for statesmanship and philanthropy as 
your lordship, endeavors to instil into the public 
mind the belief that it is a real honor for an honor- 
able man to be invited to join in rendering homage 
to the virtues, the moral worth, and the philanthro- 
pic services ,of an admitted midnight assassin, whose 
only virtue, or worth, or service in the cause of hu- 
manity, whose only claim to distinction above other 
cut-throats, beyond that notoriety which always 



262 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

attaches to the most revolting murderers, consists in 
the fact that he killed ostensibly in the cause of the 
so-called great humanitarian anti-slavery movement 
of the *age ; you need not be surprised, if others, 
who have real or imaginary wrongs to redress, may, 
while rejecting your peculiar idiosyncrasy, accept 
this as a means of redress. There are those who 
from the depths of their bleeding hearts, and for 
the redress of grievous wrongs which they them- 
selves have suffered at the hands of their own race, 
would feel and say " If this be a real honor, which 
a British nobleman mav covet, how much more hon- 
orable to be invited to participate in saturnalia of 
nobler blood ! ' ' May Heaven grant that neither your 
lordship nor any other may ever again be called 
upon to acknowledge the honor of an invitation to 
join in the celebration of such a feast ! 

But your lordship's response has satisfied me that 
though you may be a, fanatic, you are not a madman. 
Though you may move fearlessly upon the brink of 
the precipice, you will not plunge bodily into the 
abyss into which you invite others to descend. You 
will not place in jeopardy that which you conceive 
to be the policy of England, by permitting it to be 
fully identified with the crime of assassination — the 
more especially as you imagine that you perceive in 
recent political events a more effectual means of 
accomplishing your ends, with less probability of 
injury to the slave than the master. 

I come now, my lord, to consider a paragraph in 
your letter, which, containing, as it does, a grave 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 263 

personal charge against myself, constitutes within it- 
self my claim and my apology for addressing you. 
Your lordship may mentally respond to this an- 
nouncement, that not the most insignificant thing 
alive was farther from your thoughts than the un- 
known writer who now demands and exercises the 
privilege of repelling your unjust imputations, that 
he has never once " passed between the wind and 
your nobility," and that you have, therefore, never 
given to him a cause of offence. 

In order to refresh your lordship's memory, I beg 
to refer you to the closing sentences of your response 
to the Boston committee. The following is your 
language : 

In the elevation of your new President, all friends of America, of 
its continued Union, of the final extinction of slavery, by peaceful 
means, all friends of the human race must heartily rejoice! They will, 
let us hope, find in him a powerfully ally, as his country may expect 
to find an able, a consistent, and an honest ruler. I have the honor 
to be, your faithful servant, Brougham. 

I have italicized that portion of the above para- 
graph to which I claim the right of response. "While 
I will not pause to consider the phenomenon which 
is exhibited in your expressions of friendly regard 
and sympathy for, and confidence in, an American 
President ; yet, I beg to say, that it at least furnishes 
evidence of a wonderful change in the sentiments 
of British politicians in regard to the chiefs of the 
Republic. At the end of a long night of horrors 
and misrule, your lordship sees bursting over the 
horizon the bright and glorious sunshine, which is 



264 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

hereafter to illumine the career of the Republic. By 
the early light of this dawning luminary you imagine 
that you behold in the not distant future, the end of 
that terrible conflict between brothers and fellow- 
countrymen, which you hope will in its results be 
less hurtful to the slave than his master. You, per- 
haps, imagine that in a very brief period the nation 
which Great Britain failed to conquer with her 
mighty sword, even in the dawn of its infant exis- 
tence, will have fallen an easy victim to that subtle 
policy, by which you and your co-laborers have en- 
deavored to arm its citizens in a fratricidal war. If 
the merit of a deed may be measured by its success, 
I grant that your lordship, as the representative of 
British policy, may boast that you are upon the 
point of achieving a greater triumph by the subtle 
arts of diplomacy, than has ever been won by British 
arms, during a long and brilliant and bloody career. 
In contemplating the possibility of such a catas- 
trophe, one is tempted to exclaim, "Was ever na- 
tion before so wooed, so won ! Your own King 
Richard had less cause to hope for success, when 
he sought to win the widow of the murdered Ed- 
ward. And in surveying the victory you have 
achieved, you may w T ell recall the words in which he 
vaunted his victory over the weak Lady Anne, and, 
with a slight change of phraseology, apply them to 
your own triumph : 

I'll have her, but I will not keep her long : 
What! I, that killed her husband, and his father! 
The bleeding 'witness of her hatred by, 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 265 

With God, her conscience, and these bars against me, 
And I, no friend to back my suit withal, 
But the plain devil, and dissembling looks — 
And yet to win her ! all the world to nothing ! 

"Were this communication addressed to my fellow- 
countrymen, instead of to your lordship, I might 
beg them to remember this farewell injunction of 
the Father of his Country — the immortal "Wash- 
ington : 

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, I conjure you to 
believe me, fellow-citizens, the jealousy of a free people ought to be 
constantly awake ; since history and experience prove that foreign 
influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government. 

I might pray them to consider that foreign na- 
tions rarely, if ever, mingle in the internal conflicts 
of a rival power, for any other than selfish purposes. 
I might point to the long and brilliant career of 
your own great country, and demand in vain to be 
informed of a solitary instance in which the foot- 
steps of Great Britain might be traced upon the soil 
of a foreign land, except in the accomplishment of 
her own agrandizement. I might say to them, and 
I might prove that British anti-slavery fanaticism is 
but the creature and the servant of British policy, 
owing its origin and its development to what was 
supposed to be a political necessity, and that though 
your lordship might write as a fanatic, you have never 
failed to remember that you are also a British poli- 
tician! Yes, my lord, if I thought that my voice 
would be listened to in the madness of the hour, I 
would appeal to my countrymen, with the earnest- 



266 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

ness of conviction, to resist with all the energy of a 
determined will, and to repel as an insult not to be 
forgiven, every effort of the foreigner to embroil 
them in fratricidal conflicts, even though attempted 
under the garb of philanthropy. I would say to 
them, that however gratifying it might be to have 
the sympathies, and to win the smiles of the great 
of other lands, the hopes which may be built thereon 
will prove delusive ; the promises of succor will, in 
the day of adversity, be forgotten, and all the bright 
anticipations which may have their origin in such 
an association, will, like the apples of Sodom which 
tempt the eye of the traveller upon the shores of the 
Dead Sea, turn to ashes on the lips ! 

Perhaps, though, your lordship's visions of the 
future of the Republic may prove delusive. Per- 
haps your own unguarded words, written in the 
first flush of an anticipated but not yet fully accom- 
plished victory, may of themselves induce a mo- 
mentary pause in the mad career which you and 
your associates have inaugurated. Perhaps, when 
they read your lordship's letter, a burning thought of 
days long past, when, as a band of brothers, their 
fathers, by their bloody valor, conquered liberty 
from their hostile invaders, may penetrate their 
hearts. Perhaps the retrospect may reinaugurate 
once more that feeling of fraternity which animated 
their ancestors "in the days that tried men's souls." 
Or, if they cannot agree to live together as brothers 
in one family, that they will, in memory of a glorious 
past, with all its heart-thrilling associations, in 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 267 

memory of the blood of their sires, mingled together 
upon many a hard-fought battle-field, consent at 
least to part as friends. The end may not be yet, 
my lord. Out of the clouds may emerge a sun, more 
resplendent than even that which seems to you now 
to be setting in a starless night. 

But your lordship, plunging into the arena of 
party politics in America, hails the recent defeat of 
that political organization, which has ruled and 
guided the destinies of the Republic from the first 
moment of its existence to the present day, as an 
event in which " all friends of America — all friends of 
the human race must heartily rejoice." If your lordship 
should happen to remember that, during brief in- 
tervals in the history of the Republic, parties known 
by other names have obtained a temporary ascend- 
ency, I need scarcely remind you that these were 
but branches of that great organization which has 
just been defeated, divided as it was into three 
parties, each claiming that it adhered most closely 
to the distinctive principles of the old Democratic 
party. All of these, therefore, go to swell the ranks 
of those whom your lordship declares, in effect, to be 
the enemies of America and of the human race. 

This is a most harsh judgment, most harshly 
enunciated — to say nothing of its implied condem- 
nation of the statesmen and citizens who have passed 
away, and whom we, their sons by blood and in- 
heritance, have been taught to regard as "true 
friends of America." It is certainly, when con- 
sidered in reference to the source from whence it 



268 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

emanates, a most overwhelming condemnation of the 
millions of American citizens who struggled to avert 
its downfall, and who still cling to its fallen fortunes, 
and to its great distinctive principles, as the sheet- 
anchor of the hopes of the Eepuhlic. The charge 
is as sweeping as it is harsh. You will not grant 
that one " friend of America, or of the human race," 
can feel any regret at the occurrence of the event 
you commemorate. 

The Heaven-doomed city of olden time, even after 
its destruction had been ordained by the fiat of Om- 
nipotence, was allowed a respite from its terrible 
fate, in answer to the prayer of one real friend of hu- 
manity, who said : "Behold, now, I have taken upon 
me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and 
ashes — peradventure ten righteous men shall be 
found there;" and the Lord, admitting the doubt, 
and ever tempering justice with mercy, delayed the 
execution of his judgment with a promise that if ten 
righteous men could be found in Sodom, the city 
should be spared for their sake. 

More inexorable in your judgment, though but a 
man; under the influence of your own antipathies, 
and upon the testimony of their enemies alone, you 
condemn unheard millions of your fellow-men, and 
deny that, amongst them all, there lives one friend 
of his country or of the human race, whose righteous- 
ness might plead in behalf of his fellow-countrymen 
to save them from the doom of Sodom. 

While the world may give your lordship credit . 
for a more profound knowledge of those subjects 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 269 

which concern the general good of the human race, 
than the unknown writer who now addresses } 7 ou, I 
cannot doubt that an impartial public would de- 
cide that an American citizen, whose destiny has 
been cast within the limits of the Republic, ought 
to understand as thoroughly, and to appreciate as 
fully, the qualities which distinguish a "true friend 
of America, ' as any British nobleman, however 
high his rank, or however exalted his endowments 
as a British statesman. 

This consideration emboldens me to declare, in 
my right as an American-born citizen, and as the 
representative of a sentiment held in common by 
millions of my fellow-countrymen, that it is not I, 
nor they, who are the enemies of America. If it 
must be that one or the other of us, my lord, is an 
enemy of the Eepublic, it is you, who, from your 
high and noble rank, disdain not to stoop to a fel- 
lowship with the openly-avowed friends and fol- 
lowers of assassins ! It is you, who, by acknowl- 
edging yourself to be honored by an invitation to 
participate in demonstrations of respect for one of 
the foulest murderers whose deeds have found a 
place in the records of crime, place the lighted 
torch and the dagger in the hands of the incen- 
diary ! It is you, who, from your safe retreat, may 
laugh to scorn the horrors of such a contest, 
thus enkindle the flames of a fratricidal war in a dis- 
tant land, and all in the prostituted name of humanity. 

There are many who do not rejoice over the 
event which has filled your lordship with so much 



270 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

satisfaction. These mourn over a result which 
places in imminent peril one of the noblest — par- 
don me if, with the old pride of an American, I 
say, the noblest fabric of a government that has ever 
been constructed by human intelligence. 

You delude 'yourself, my lord, if you believe 
that all "friends of America" and of the "human 
race " share your sentiments of joy upon the occa- 
sion you celebrate. Millions of the downtrodden 
and the oppressed of other climes now mourn over 
the peril which menaces the overthrow of "the 
great Republic, " without knowing, or caring to 
comprehend, the domestic questions which have 
produced the danger. During eighty-five years, it 
has been a beacon of hope to the weary and heavy 
laden, and should its brightness be quenched by 
that dark and clouded night, upon whose gloomy 
and fitful shadows we may even, at this moment, 
be gazing, believe not, my lord, that the announce- 
ment of the catastrophe will be a message of joy to 
the hearts of "all the friends of the human race! ' 
ISTo, my lord : you may or may not represent the 
sentiments of the high and noble order to which 
you belong — I would fain hope that you do not — 
but you do not express the sentiments of the mil 1 
lion ! 

If your lordship really believes that " all friends 
of the human race " are rejoiced at the overthrow 
of that political organization which, commencing 
with "Washington, has been perpetuated in power 
to the present day, descend a little, I pray you, 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 271 

from your elevated position in the social scale, and 
seek enlightenment from those whom you may en- 
counter. Aek of the wandering exile from his na- 
tive land, who, for the crime of seeking freedom 
from the thraldom of despotism, has "been doomed 
to revisit the home of his childhood no more for 
ever, if he rejoices at an event which threatens to 
extinguish the brightness of that light, the con- 
templation of which has been to him, and to his 
fellow-sufferers, a thing of joy, of life, and hope, 
in the gloomiest moments of his despondency ! 

I would ask no nobler epitaph upon the tomb of 
that party, whose defeat your lordship commemo- 
rates as an event which should be hailed with joy 
by every "friend of the human race," than to re- 
cord in simple and brief words, this fragment of its 
history : 

" The political organization which inaugurated 
the revolt of the Thirteen American Colonies of 
Great Britain ; which conducted the war of the Re- 
volution to a successful close ; under whose auspices 
the Confederation of free States was established ; 
and which ruled and guided the destinies of the 
Republic during the firrst eighty-five years of its 
existence, perished in the year of the Christian 
era one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one. " 

"Whether its fall was a consequence of its crimes, its 
virtues, or its misfortunes, let posterity determine. 

And may I be pardoned, if, in casting a glance 
into the unrevealed future, I venture the predic- 
tion, that even though the Republic itself should 



272 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

perish to-day, the incidents of its brief, but bril- 
liant career will be remembered, and the grandeur 
and sublimity of the great principles upon which 
it was constructed will be appreciated, and the 
memory of its founders and of their successors, who 
ruled it, will be honored, when London, with its 
Kings, and its Cobles, and its Commons, will have 
been, like Egypt's ancient capital, with its monu- 
ments and its inhabitants, mingled together in un- 
distinguishable ashes ? 

It would be profitless for me to indulge at greater 
length in the reflections to which the two events I 
have referred to, and your lordship's connection 
therewith, have given birth. I am unwilling to 
offer to you, my lord, any defence for the local 
policy of the political party in America to which I 
belong. 'Nor, on the other hand, will I make any 
attack upon that in whose success your lordship 
seems to feel so deep an interest, and whose cause 
you commend with so much zeal. I do not recog- 
nize in Englishmen, or any other foreigners, the 
right to interfere in those domestic questions which 
concern Americans alone, and which they should 
be left free to settle among themselves. I cannot 
admit a foreign tribunal to judge between us, any 
more than I would claim for America the right of 
interference, under similar circumstances, in the 
internal affairs of England. But, my lord, you 
have invited a comparison by which I am willing- 
that my country shall be tested. You have, by the 
energy of your assaults upon the institution of 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 273 

African slavery in America, indirectly challenged 
an examination into the manner in which subjuga- 
ted races have been ruled by your own country, 
and you seem to invite scrutiny into your own con- 
nection, as a nation, with the institution of African 
slavery in the past, as well as in the present era. 

I, in turn, challenge an investigation and a com- 
parison, and I am willing to accept " all friends of 
the human race " as our umpires. I am willing that 
both shall be tried " by the laws of God and hu- 
manity, ' and that the inquiry shall have for its 
object the determination of the question : Which 
has so governed as to achieve the greatest good, 
with the least evil, to those over whom Providence 
or cupidity has called them, respectively, to bear 
sway ? Every friend of the Southern States of 
America is willing to stand or fall upon the result 
of such an investigation and comparison. 

I have a high respect, my lord, for the great 
nation in which you hold so distinguished a rank. 
I am satisfied that many, very many, of its noblest 
citizens of all classes deprecate the officious inter- 
ference of British politicians in the contests of po- 
litical parties in America. But my friendly regard 
for individual' citizens of your country does not 
blind me to the fact that English influence has been 
a principal element in the sectional troubles which 
now distract my country. Chief among the lead- 
ing journals of England is one which, by the com- 
mon consent of all Europe, is the great exponent 
of English sentiments and English ideas. In 



274 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

America, it is equally recognized as the unrivalled 
European defamer of the Southern States and their 
inhabitants. While you, my lord, in conjunction 
with your associates of the same school, stand at 
the head of the pseudo-religious section m of the 
political anti- American-slavery movement of Eng- 
land, the Times leads that other branch of this 
formidable politico-religious organization, whose 
moral principle can only be effectually aroused to 
a healthy action by means of a thorough perception 
of certain concomitant temporal advantages. 

To show to you, my lord, that I do not over-esti- 
mate the influence which, directly and indirectly, 
you have exercised in producing the present politi- 
cal troubles in America, and that I have not mis- 
conceived the nature and motive of your action in 
regard thereto, I beg to submit to you the following 
brief but pointed extract of a leading editorial article 
from the London Times : 

Will any one, however, say that it is not mainly to the ceaseless exer- 
tions, to the philanthropic energy, to the entreaties, to the persua- 
sion of this country, that the anti-slavery party in the States owes its 
strength ? Blot out England, and English sympathies, and English pow- 
er from the map of the world, and the battle belweem the North and 
the South would be fought on the other side of the Atlantic on very 
different terms. So far, then, as this, Englishmen are as one with 
each other on this question. Slavery shall not be in our own do- 
minions — could we have gone one step farther and annihilated the 
peculiar institution, in all other countries as well as in our own, the 
problem would, in the main, have speedi]y received a satisfactory 
solution, This, however, was beyond our power, and consequently 
we find ourselves in this anomaly, that we, without a slave popula- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 275 

tion, must compete in the markets of the world with other countries 
which have slave populations, and that with respect to tropical pro- 
ductions. 

To these few bluff words, the purport of the last 
four lines of which is a key to Anglo-American, 
anti-slavery philanthropy, I may add that the per- 
sistent misrepresentations against the Southern 
American States, which have emanated from this 
British party, have excited unjust and wholly un- 
founded prejudices against my countrymen through- 
out Europe. I cannot hope that in a day, or a year, 
these prejudices can be removed by any exposure 
of that narrow and thoroughly selfish policy which, 
decked in the garb of humanity, has given tone to 
the sentiments of Europe upon American affairs. 
But in the confidence that a returning sense of jus- 
tice will induce your lordship to listen to the de- 
fence made by one whom you have accused as an 
enemy to his country and to the human race, I pro- 
pose, after the lapse of a few weeks, which will be 
necessarily occupied by other engagements, to do 
myself the honor of again addressing you.* 

I may not hope that the judge who has already 
pronounced against me, in terms so emphatic, will 
be induced to reverse his pre-determined judgment ; 

*The publication of the letters here referred to, is now superse- 
ded by those which fill the greater part of this volume. Although 
they were written antecedently to my announcement to his lordship, 
yet, as they cover the points at issue, I submit this volume to " the 
true friends of America, " as well as to "all friends of the human 
race," as a redemption of my pledge. 



276 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

but I will not despair of obtaining a reversal of 
jour sentence before a tribunal composed of the 
"friends of the human race, " until longer to hope 
would be fanaticism. 

The small grain of mustard seed, which I throw 
upon the ground, may be choked by the foul weeds 
amongst which it is cast, and never see the sun; 
but it may be that from this little seed may grow 
and " wax a great tree ," and that the " fowls of the 
air may lodge in the branches of it," and that be- 
neath its shade a few, at least, of the noxious plants, 
from the midst of which it grew, may wither and 
perish ! 

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

Your Lordship's obedient servant, 

James Williams. 



THE 

RESULT AND ITS CONSEaUENCES. 



Interest excited abroad by the last canvass for the Presidency, and 
its results — Amazement at the consequences — The South tranquilly 
living under the same laws as before, while the North is in a 
state of Revolution — Atrocities of the invaders — Fremont's Procla- 
mation — Spectacle presented to mankind — Nature of the late com- 
pact of Union — Reserved rights of the States — While the Mon- 
archies of Europe are upholding, the Lincoln Government is deny- 
ing the rights of the people to self-government — The Union of 
South and North is opposed to the freedom of the former, and the 
happiness of the latter, and can never be restored — Characteristic 
differences between them — " Puritans," " Cavaliers " — The South 
will stand higher in the estimation of the civilized world after 
separation — The only issue is subjection or independence — Provi- 
dence smiles upon the Southern people — Through the murky 
clouds the sunlight is already visible — President Lincoln's declara- 
tion that the States derived their powers from the General Govern- 
ment disproved, Note to page 288 — The nature and terms of the 
compact of union between the States considered, Note to page 
293. 

At the time when the series of letters which oc- 
cupy the larger portion of this volume, were writ- 
ten, the South was making its last appeal to the 
JSTorth for justice, and was engaged in its last great 
struggle at the ballot-box, against its unrelenting 
adversary. When the letter to the distinguished 
British statesman, which succeeds the series re- 

277) 



278 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

ferred to, was addressed to that gentleman, the re- 
sult of the election had been already announced, 
and the States which had composed the Union 
were trembling in the balance, between the alter- 
natives of a peaceful separation and a war of sub- 
jugation against the seceding States. It would 
seem to be proper, in order to complete the connection 
between the cause, the effect, and the results, that 
something should be added upon the subjects indi- 
cated at the head of this chapter, as a sequel to 
that which goes before. 

The result of the election for the Presidency of 
the United States in 1860 — during the pendency of 
which the preceding series of letters were written 
in the Old World, and forwarded to America for 
publication — together with the immediate conse- 
quences flowing therefrom, are now events accom- 
plished and ready for the pen of the historian. 
Never before has any political contest in the New 
World created so deep an interest throughout Eu- 
rope, as that which terminated in the installation 
of one section of the Union, embracing eighteen 
States, into all the powers of the General Govern- 
ment, and the consequent practical exclusion of the 
other section, embracing fifteen States, from all 
participation in the management and control of a 
Confederacy of which they formed so important a 
part. 

The interest excited by that struggle, in view of 
the internal changes which it was thought would 
be likely to follow, have been intensified and deep- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 279 

ened into an absorbing passion, in presence of the 
actual consequences whicb have succeeded swiftly 
upon the heels of the Northern victory at the bal- 
lot-box. 

All Christendom stands amazed — electrified, as it 
were — in presence of the stupendous spectacle 
which is this day presented to mankind in that 
country, w r hich, a few short months ago, was pro- 
perly regarded as the living embodiment of the 
principles of freedom. 

Eleven of those States have withdrawn from the 
old Union — have resumed their sovereign powers — 
and in the exercise of their inalienable rights, have 
formed a separate Union, under the style of the 
" Confederate States of America." The four re- 
maining slave States are ready and eager to unite 
themselves with their brethren in the Confederate 
States, whenever they can throw off the chains and 
shackles with which they have been fettered by the 
Government of the United States in the exercise 
of a despotism more ruthless, cruel, and vindictive 
than any which has marked the career of any civi- 
lized conquerors of modern times. 

The present attitude of the respective Govern- 
ments, which are now contending in arms for po- 
litical dominion over the soil of the South, presents 
to the philosophical and inquiring mind some' cu- 
rious phenomena. That portion of the late United 
States, which is spoken of, by superficial observers 
of passing events, as being "in a state of revolu- 
tion," seceded from the late Union, and formed an- 



280 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

other, without any change whatever in the internal 
organization of the States composing it, and with- 
out suspending, for a single instant, the operation 
of the laws by which the citizens of each had been 
governed. The acts accomplishing secession and 
creating a new Confederacy, had no more influence 
upon the status of the citizens, than the withdrawal 
of France and Sardinia from a European alliance, 
and the formation of a separate compact, would 
produce upon their subjects. In both instances, the 
acts referred to might be accomplished without any 
knowledge on the part of the inhabitants, so far as 
it would effect their relations to their respective 
Governments. 

The Confederacy thus established assumed upon 
the instant of its creation the powers which were 
confided to it by the States composing it, and is now 
firmly established, not only in the regular exercise 
of its legitimate functions but in the hearts of the 
people. 

Under the benign administration of this govern- 
ment, the rights of its citizens have been everywhere 
respected, and the laws have been faithfully exe- 
cuted. The liberty of the press has been main- 
tained inviolate. ~No citizen held in prison for a 
political offence has been deprived of his right to a 
trial before the civil tribunals ; and so far from ar- 
resting non-combatant subjects of the United States 
who might be within the limits of the Confederacy, 
a law has been enacted by the Congress at Rich- 
mond, giving to alien enemies forty days in which 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 281 

.-( 

to make their preparations for departure, and offering 
them free egress from the jurisdiction of the Confed- 
erate States. These are the circumstances and 
condition of that country which, in common par- 
lance throughout Europe as well as the United 
States, is said to be " in a state of revolution." 

On the other hand, the Government of the United 
States, which is said to be engaged with all its 
power in putting down the attempted revolution in 
the States of the South, and in suppressing " the 
great rebellion," is itself in the throes of a terrible 
revolution. The stupendous encroachments upon 
the constitutional rights of its citizens which have 
marked the administration of the Government since 
the inauguration of the present President are with- 
out a parallel in the history of any other nation. 
The liberty of the press has been abrogated and 
many journals, both secular and religious, which 
have expressed a doubt in regard to the policy of 
continuing the war of subjugation against the South, 
have been either suppressed by the direct orders of 
the Government or destroyed by mob violence. 

An inconsiderate word, uttered in the confidence 
of private friendship, is employed as a pretext for 
consigning the offender to a prison. Men are 
arrested while engaged unsuspectingly in their pri- 
vate avocations — transported to distant fortresses 
beyond the limits of the State in which they reside 
— incarcerated in dungeons — deprived of all means 
of communicating with their friends — and from first 
to last are kept in utter ignorance of the cause of 



282 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 






their arrest and detention ; and as if to complete 
the parallel between the tyranny inaugurated by 
Lincoln and that which marked the career of Robes- 
pierre and Danton, even women and young girls 
are arrested and incarcerated, by a simple order 
from a commanding officer, and without even the 
forms of law, upon suspicion of disloyalty to the 
government of Washington. The right of the 
citizen to petition Congress has been refused, and 
the petitioners in New York arrested. The writ 
of habeas corpus has been suspended, or rather abro- 
gated, by the sole authority and at the discretion of 
the President, as to time and place. He has also 
delegated this usurped authority to his military 
commanders. All these acts, unheard of in the 
previous history of the country, and unparalleled 
in enormity by those of any other government of 
the present age, are perpetrated, not against those 
who are said to be "in rebellion," but against the 
citizens, and within the legal jurisdiction of "loyal 
States " who profess to be as earnestly desirous of 
upholding the government properly administered, 
and of re-uniting its dissevered elements, as the 
President himself or his advisers.* 



*The only justification which is attempted for these various out- 
rages, is the plea of necessity. This might avail them with man- 
kind if they were defending themselves against invasion, but they 
are themselves the invaders against an unoffending people, for the 
avowed purposes of subjugation and virtual robbery. To declare 
the mere expression of an opinion adverse to the prosecution of 
such a war to be "treason," is against the practice of all civilized 
nations, and cannot be commended by any friend of liberty. 






LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 283 

Such having been the conduct of the United States 
Government when dealing with the "loyal States, "the 

The following are among the leading newspapers, the circulation 
of which have been suppressed by order of the government : In 
New York City, the Journal of Commerce, News, Day-Book, and 
Freeman's Journal; in Pennsylvania, the Christian Observer; in 
Missouri, the Journal, Missourian, and Herald. Those suppressed 
by the mob are the Standard, (Concord, N. H.), Democrat, (Bangor, 
Maine,) Farmer, (Bridgeport, Connecticut,) Sentinel, (Easton, Pa.), 
and the Republican, (Westchester, Pa.) The New York Herald was 
assailed by the mob, but was spared on becoming a government paper. 

Nothing can more clearly illustrate the utter subjection of the 
people of the North themselves to the despotism which in a few 
short months has robbed them of every vestige of their former 
liberty, than the following extract from the card of the editor, M. E. 
Masseras, of the "Courier des Etats Unis," a French paper pub- 
lished in New York, on retiring by order of the Government from 
the editorship of that paper. He says that in future the paper will 
confine itself simply to the news of the day, as that is all which is 
permitted, and that he himself will retire until the time arrives 
when he will be permitted to speak his sentiments. He concludes 
as follows : 

" To-day as in April — still more than then — I am convinced that 
war will not save the Union, and, that, on the other hand, it will 
destroy the Republic. I am satisfied that the majority of the nation 
submits to a war which it does not approve, without believing in the 
happy termination about which it seeks to delude the people. I am 
satisfied that the war is the work of a party, who will push it to the 
last extremity, without hesitating at any means to maintain its 
supremacy. In all this I see nothing but oppression, ruin, then as a 
last consolation, inevitable revolution. And as the situation in 
which the press is placed only leaves me the choice between blandly 
praising everything or holding my tongue, I decide upon silence." 

The belief on the part of the Washington government that such 
extreme measures are necessary, proves conclusively that there must 
be a strong feeling of disapprobation on the part of the people 
against the war. 



284 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

treatment administered to those which are said to be 
in "a state of rebellion," or to have sympathies in 
common with the Confederate States, wherever 
they have been in whole or in part placed in a state 
of subjection, may possibly be imagined. The oc- 
cupation of that portion of the border of Virginia 
which has fallen under the ruthless dominion of the 
invaders, has been marked by deeds of the most 
wanton cruelty, rapine, and violence. Every blade 
of grass has been destroyed, whole villages and 
towns have been burned to the ground, and their 
inhabitants driven forth without pity. Every foot 
of territory over which their armies have trodden, 
presents a picture of utter desolation. Throughout 
another entire State, the writ of habeas corpus has 
been suspended, and the civil authorities have been 
entirely superseded by military rule. The com- 
mander of this military division — a vain despot, who 
seems only ambitious of acquiring a wider notoriety 
of infamy, than any other person engaged in the 
same occupation — has issued a proclamation, de- 
claring as forfeited, not only the property, but the 
lives of all persons who nnrv be found in arms 
against the Government which he represents. * 

* Extract from Fremont's Proclamation. — " In order, therefore, 
to suppress disorders, to maintain as far as practicable, the public 
peace, and to give security and protection to the persons and pro- 
perty of loyal citizens, I do hereby extend and declare established 
martial law throughout the entire State of Missouri. . . . All persons 
who shall be taken with arms in their hands within these lines shall 
be tried by court-martial, and if found guilty shall be shot. 

" The property real and personal, of all persons in the State of 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 285 

These acts are done within the limits of a State, 
four-fifths of which would hail the advent of a IsTero 
as a deliverance from the despotism of that 
" paternal" .Government, which has, by its ruthless 
deeds, banished every vestige of liberty from all 
territory over which it exercises dominion ! 

These are not the exaggerated statements of an 
excited adversary, but facts of public notoriety, 
every one of which has been derived from official 

Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or who 
shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies 
in the field, is declared confiscated to public use, and slaves, if any 
they have, are hereby declared freemen. 

" All persons who have been led away from their allegiance are re- 
quired to return forthwith to their homes. Any such absent without 
sufficient cause will be held to be presumptive evidence against 
them: the object of this declaration is to place in the hands of the 
military authorities the power to give effect to existing laws and to 
supply such deficiencies as the conditions of war demand." 

The proclamation from which the above paragraphs are extracted, 
appears to be an exact copy in substance of the proclamation of 
John, Earl of Dunmore, the last British Governor of Virginia. This 
State paper, so celebrated in Virgina annals, must have been the 
immediate source of Fremont's inspirations. It is to be regretted 
that the lesson then taught to tyrants, that vindictive and ferocious 
deeds, in the conduct of a war, defeat the very objects which they 
were intended to accomplish, seems to have been lost upon the chief 
of the present United States Government, as well as upon the tools 
who are willing to be his instruments in perpetrating the barbarities 
of a common vengeance. The United States Government may murder 
its prisoners, and rob them of their property, as both President Lin- 
coln and his military commanders have officially declared they would 
do ; but mankind would accuse the Confederate States Government of 
criminal weakness, if if failed to follow the consummation of these 
threats, by a terrible retribution ! 

The proclamation of Lord Dunmore, bearing date 17th November, 



286 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

documents which have been authoritatively pub- 
lished in the columns of leading Journals in the in- 
terest of the Government of the United States. 

Nay more, as if the ruler of this once free people 
were resolved while destroying the liberties of his 
subjects, to eradicate every impediment to the ex- 
ercise of his usurped authority, and to annihilate 
the last and only remaining bulwark of the people 

1775, by a mere change of names and dates, would be the proclama- 
tion of the Republican General, "with only a trifling difference in the 
mere words. Lord Dunmore says : 

" To defeat such treasonable purposes, that all such traitors and 
their abettors may be brought to justice, and that the peace and good 
order of this colony may again be restored, which the ordinary course 
of the civil law is unable to effect — I have thought fit to issue this, 
my proclamation, hereby declaring, that until the aforesaid good 
purposes can be obtained, I do, in virtue of the power and authority 
to me given by his majesty, determine to execute martial law, and 
cause the same to be executed throughout this colony ; and to the 
end that peace and good order may the sooner be restored, I do re- 
quire every person capable of bearing arms to resort to his majesty's 
standard, or be looked upon as a traitor to his crown and government, 
and thereby become liable to the penalty the law inflicts upon such 
offences, such as forfeiture of life, confiscation of lands, etc., etc. 
And I do hereby further declare all indentured servants, negroes, or 
others appertaining to rebels, free that are willing and able to bear 
arms; they joining his majesty's troops as soon as may be, for the 
purpose of reducing this colony to a proper sense of their duty to 
his majesty's crown and dignity." 

The proclamation of the commanding general of the United States in 
Missouri — the spirit and objects of which, have been sanctioned by the 
President and his Cabinet, and applauded by the people of the North 
— ought to satisfy the last lingering doubt upon the minds of all, that 
the intention of the North in the formation of the Republican party 
was to obtain and to exercise control over the domestic institutions 
of the Southern States. That it was the original design of this 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. ' 287 

against the encroachments of a central despotism, 
he has in effect abrogated the sovereign rights of 
the States — reduced them to the condition of mere 
counties or townships — and as if to add insult to 
injury, he proclaims officially that the States of the 
Confederacy never had an independent existence, 
and that they derive all their powers from that 

party to carry out their pledges to foreign abolitionists, cannot for a 
moment be questioned. If a commanding general has a right to give 
freedom to the slaves, surely the right of Congress to do so cannot 
be questioned. The resistance of the South has only hastened the 
denounment of a foregone conclusion. The only difference be- 
tween the position which, the South would have occupied if she had 
remained a passive witness of her own enslavement, and her present 
attitude consists in this, that in the first instance she would have been 
degraded by an unresisting subjugation by the North, while now, if 
she perishes, it is while nobly fighting for all that is dear to freemen; 
and if she triumphs, all the proclamations of the petty despots who 
have sprung up like mushrooms under the reign of terror which has 
been inaugurated by Lincoln, will remain null and of no effect, ex- 
cept as a record of perpetual infamy, against those who have em- 
ployed the authority confided to them, in attempting to crush out the 
last vestige of constitutional liberty. 

It were worse than folly for any one having a personal interest at 
stake, to doubt any longer in regard to the past or present intentions 
of the North. If there should be any citizens in the border States 
who hope to retain their property by submission or subserviency to 
the North, let them also bear in mind, that they will only retain pos- 
session thereof at the pleasure of the North. If the Government 
possesses the right to manumit slaves for one offence against the 
Government, they can do the same thing as a punishment for another. 
In short the assumption and practical exercise of such an authority 
under any circumstances, is equivalent to an entire subjection of all 
Southern States which submit to the authority of the Government 
of the United States — which is now nothing more than the government 
of the North. 

10 



288 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

General Government of which he is the chief 
ruler. * 

Strange spectacle of mad ambition! The head 
of a once free, powerful, and respected nation mur- 
dering not only the substance, but the very forms 
of liberty among his own subjects, that he may 
employ them the more readily in destroying the lib- 
erties of others ! 

Strange spectacle of wickedness ! The President 
of a once mighty Republic, deriving its powers from 
the consent of the governed, hurling his armies of mer- 

* Extract from President Lincoln's War Message to Congress, 
July, 1861. — The States have their status in the Union, and they have 
no other legal status if they break from this. They can only do so 
against law by revolution. The Union, and not themselves separ- 
ately, procured their independence and their liberty by conquest or 
purchase. The Union gave each of them whatever independence and 
liberty it had. The Union is older than any of the States, and 
in fact it created them as States. Originally, some dependent colo- 
nies made the Union, and in turn the Union threw of their old de- 
pendence for them and made them States. Such as they are, not one 
of them ever had a State Constitution independent of the Union." 

President Lincoln may be an excellent rail-splitter, but it is clear 
that he is not an expert at hair-splitting. He tears up sovereignties 
by the roots, and casts them at his feet without deigning to show to 
his faithful subjects how he had reached conclusions so adverse to 
the doctrines universally acknowledged previous to his advent to 
power. To say nothing of the belief entertained by the States them- 
selves, that they were once sovereign, and that they only transferred 
a very limited portion of that sovereignty to the General Government, 
over which, in an evil day for his country, he was called to preside 
as the chief ruler, mankind will be curious to understand, what dispo- 
sition he means to make of the following brief extract from a docu- 
ment which gave to the United States, or rather the States united, 
their first, fully recognized legal claim to independence and sov- 
ereignty : 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 289 

cenary soldiers against eight millions of freemen, 
living in conten1$d happiness nnder a government 
of their own choice, for the purpose of coercing them 
by fire and sword, to become his dutiful subjects! 

Strange spectacle of weakness ! The very people 
who should defend with their life's blood the rights 
which are thus set at naught, and who are at once 
his victims and instruments, rattle the chains which 
despotism has placed upon their once free limbs, and 
shout for the war v of subjugation against the freemen 
of the South! They raise their manacled hands 

Extract from "Provisional Articles signed at Paris, November 30, 1782, 

by the Commissioners of his Britannic Majesty, and the Commissioners 

of the United States of America." 

"Article I. His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United 
States, viz : New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and 
Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Penn- 
sylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro- 
lina, and Georgia, to be free, sovereign, and independent States, and 
that he treats with them as such ; and for himself, his heirs, and suc- 
cessors, relinquishes all claim to the government, propriety, and ter- 
ritorial rights of the same and every part thereof." 

After President Lincoln shall have satisfactorily explained that this 
recognition did not mean what it declares, the world has a right to 
ask him how he reconciles the act of war which he has instituted, 
and is prosecuting with so much ferocity, with the positions assumed 
in his speech delivered in the Congress of the United States, January 
12th, 1848, from which the following words are extracted, viz : 

"Any people whatever, being inclined and having the power, have 
the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form 
a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most 
sacred right. Nor is the right confined to cases where the whole of 
an existing government may chose to exercise it. Any portion of 
such people that can, may revolutionize and make their own, of so 
much territory as they inhabit." 



290 LETTERS ON SLALERY. 

towards heaven, and pray that God may prosper 
their enslaver ! f 

Strange spectacle of madness and folly! Nine- 
teen States of a Union once embracing thirty-four 
members, without the pretence of a wrong to redress, ' 
or an insult to avenge, invade with a great army, the 
territory of their former confederates, murdering 
their citizens, plundering them of their property, 
burning their dwellings, committing atrocious 
violence upon their wives and daughters, and leav- 
ing upon the track of their sacrilegious hosts, nothing 
but ruin, and desolation, and woe amongst the in- 
habitants, and " all to win back the alienated affec- 
tions" of those whom they call their brothers ! 

Of a truth may it be repeated, that while the 
"rebellious States" have passed without a revolu- 
tion or an internal commotion, the period of transi- 
tion into the new Confederacy, the " loyal States " 
which still adhere to the old federal Union, are them- 
selves in the agonies of a revolution involving changes 
in the organic principles upon which the Govern- 
ment had been previously administered, scarcely less 
startling in its magnitude than that which was in- 
augurated by the eloquence of a Mirabeau, in the 
days of Louis XVI., which terminated by driving 
the Bourbon from the throne of France forever. 

So far as it may affect the result of the war in which 
the two countries are now engaged, a decision con- 
firming the right of the Southern States to withdraw 
from the late Union would be unavailing. Whether 
the acts of the now Confederate States be regarded 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 291 

as secession by right of sovereignty, or rebellion by 
authority of the people, they will maintain their in- 
dependence by the sword, which they will never re- 
turn to its scabbard, until the last hostile invader 
shall have been driven from their borders ! 

Nevertheless, a due respect for the opinions of 
our fellow-men, and a natural desire to justify our 
acts and to secure for ourselves the respect, if not 
the sympathies, of the civilized world, make it a 
duty incumbent upon the citizens of the South to 
show clearly the causes which impelled them, in 
defence of all that they held dear, to sever the po- 
litical bonds which united them with the States of 
the North. These causes have already been fully 
stated, and the opinions of disinterested men every 
where have undergone a revolution, which promises, 
in due time, to correct the erroneous views which 
were at first entertained. The impartial historian 
will declare that the circumstances under which the 
Southern States resumed their independence, and 
declared their determination to defend and maintain 
it, by an appeal, if necessary, to the arbitrament of 
arms, would have justified the adoption of that 
measure, even though they had previously formed 
but an integral part of a consolidated sovereignty. 
But they were not thus bound to their late asso- 
ciates. They joined them in a compact, but they 
never surrendered to them their sovereignty. 
They formed with them a Union for certain speci- 
fied purposes, and delegated certain clearly defined 
powers, but by express stipulation in the articles of 



292 LETTERS .ON SLAVERY. 

agreement which were concluded between them, 
all the powers not specifically conferred upon the 
federal Government, were reserved to the States. 
There was no arbiter appointed to decide in case 
of a disagreement, so that the right to determine 
the sufficiency of the causes which impelled them 
to a separation, was and remained with them, and 
them alone. The Government of the United States 
might, or might not, have been stronger and more 
durable if the States had transferred to it all of 
their sovereignty ; but we are considering what 
was, and not what might have been. The very 
name by which the Government was known indi 
cated unmistakably that it was not consolidated 
into a single State, but was the admitted represen- 
tative of several sovereignties. The causes which 
induced the original States of the Union to guard 
with so much care their State sovereignty, can be 
readily discovered by considering the peculiar cir- 
cumstances in which they were placed. The terri- 
tory embraced an extent of country large enough 
for a dozen empires, each one of which would have 
rivaled the greatest Powers of Europe. There al- 
ready existed an antagonism between the Northern 
and the Southern States, and their domestic institu- 
tions were still more widely at variance. If these 
Governments had been consolidated into one, slavery 
might have been abolished, or made universal, 
throughout the whole. The States therefore re- 
tained their sovereignty, for the reason among? . 
others, that they desired to avoid giving any pre- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 293 

text to the General Government for attempting to 
control their internal affairs.* 

*One is almost tempted to smile at the flippant insolence with 
which the Northern people charge the Southerners with being in a 
state of rebellion against them! In America, they call it "the re- 
bellion of the Southern States," but in Europe, they speak of it as 
"the rebellion of the Southern provinces." There is no doubt that 
the North is laboring to accomplish this end, but as it has never yet 
had a beginning, the South can scarcely be said to be in rebellion 
against anything, except the intentions of the North to enslave her. 
There are those, however, who speak of the rebellion of the South- 
ern States against the Government of the United States, without 
considering that such a thing, under existing circumstances, is 
absurd and impossible. If there were a Monarch upon the throne, 
there might be a rebellion among his subjects, but the people were 
the sovereigns of the late United States, and to say that the people 
of the South are in rebellion, is to say that the sovereign has 
rebelled against himself, which is absurd. Moreover, suppose that 
the North is right in declaring that the Government of the United 
States was the representative of a single sovereignty, namely, the 
people of all the States. The people of the Southern States have 
refused to constitute any longer a portion of the sovereignty of the 
whole, and having separated themselves from all political association 
with the North, it follows that the Government of the United States 
is the agent of the Northern people alone ; and, as the Southern 
people cannot be in rebellion against themselves, if it may be said 
that they are in rebellion against the Government of the United 
States, and the people are the sovereign, it follows that the South 
must be regarded as in rebellion against the North. This would 
assume that the Southern people were never sovereign, but that 
they were subject to and owed allegiance to the North. We do not 
find this in the bond. 

During the war between the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain, 
Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Colonies, by which it 
was provided that " the Union shall be perpetual." Notwithstand- 
ing this, another convention subsequently assembled, which adopted 
the present Constitution of the United States. Article VII. provided 
that "the ratifications of nine States shall be sufficient for the es- 



294 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

The only pretext upon which the Northern United 
States may justify the unprovoked war which they 

tablishment of this Constitution, between the States ratifying the 
same." In effect, this Constitution was ratified at first by only a 
portion of the States composing the previous Union, (each at differ- 
ent dates and in its sovereign capacity as a State.) So that the 
right of secession is fully admitted, by the fact that the late Union 
was created by States which "seceded" from the previous Union, 
three of which, in their acts of ratification expressly reserved the 
right to secede again. Virginia, in giving her assent to the Consti- 
tution, said: 

■ "We, the delegates of the people of Virginia, duly elected, etc., 
£tc, do, in the name and in behalf of the people of Virginia, de- 
clare and make known that the powers granted under the Consti- 
tution, being derived from the people of the United States, may be 
resumed by them whenever the same shall be perverted to their in- 
jury or oppression." 

The State of New York said that " the powers of Government 
may be re-assumed by the people whenever it shall 'become neces- 
sary to their happiness." And the State of Rhode Island adopted 
the same language. It is clear that when these States speak of the 
people of the United States, meaning the States united, they spoke 
authoritatively for the people of their own States respectively ; for 
when they speak of the re-assumption of power by the people, it is 
manifest that they refer to the people who previously held it. Now, 
what people held this power originally ? It was the people of the 
States respectively whose independence had been recognized sepa- 
rately, and by name, by George III., and not the whole people of all 
the States as a unit. 

Furthermore, in order that no inference might ever be drawn pre- 
judicial to the rights of the States, the Constitution was amended 
after its ratification in such manner as to state that "the powers 
not delegated to the United States, nor prohibited by it to the States, 
are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.." 

The right of secession has been distinctly affirmed and admitted 
by almost every President, and in turn by almost every State of the 
Union, since the celebrated Resolutions of Virginia and of Kentucky 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 295 

are now waging against the Southern Confederacy, » 
might, with equal propriety, be employed by Eng- 

in 1798. The former were drawn up by Mr. Madison, and the latter 
by Mr. Jefferson. The first Kentucky resolution was as follows : 

"1st Resolved, That the several States comprising the United 
States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited sub- 
mission to their general government, but that by compact under the 
style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amend- 
ments thereto, they constituted a general government, for special 
purposes, delegated to that government certain definite powers, 
reserving each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their 
own self-government • and that whensoever the general government 
assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and 
of no force ; that to this compact each State acceded, as a State, 
and is an integral party ; that this government created by this com- 
pact, was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the 
powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion 
and not the Constitution the measure of its powers, but that as in all 
other cases of compact among parties having no common judge, 
each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infrac- 
tions as of the mode and measure of redress." 

This was the interpretation given to the compact of the Union by 
Jefferson and Madison, and the fathers of the Union. To come 
down to the interpretation of more modern times, it may be stated 
that Van Buren, Polk, Pierce, Buchanan, and perhaps others, were 
elected respectively to the office of President upon platforms em- 
bracing specifically the above recited resolution. It will be remem- 
bered that upon this declaration of principles, Mr. Pierce received 
the votes of every State in the Union except three, and one of those 
has time and again given her adhesion to the same principle. 

To show how this subject and the subject of coercion was regarded 
by the framers of the very Constitution under consideration, I close 
with the following extracts from the debates in the federal conven- 
tion for forming a Constitution, 1787 : 

" Mr. Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, presented a series of reso- 
lutions as a basis of a form of government. The sixth resolution 
suggested, amongst other matters, that the National Legislature 



296 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

land, or France, or Eussia, if either of these pow- 
erful nations should attempt the subjugation of 
all Europe, upon the ground that the existence of 

ought to be empowered to 'call forth the force of the Union against 
any member of the Union failing to fulfil its duties under the arti- 
cles thereof.' See Madison Papers, Vol. 2d, page 732. 

"Mr. Madison observed, that the more he reflected on the use of 
force, the more he doubted the practicability, the justice, and the 
efficacy of it, when applied to people collectively, and not individual- 
ly. An Union of the States containing such an ingredient, seemed 
to provide for its own destruction. The use of force against a State 
would look more like a declaration of war than an infliction of pun- 
ishment; and would probably be considered by the party attacked 
as a dissolution of all previous compacts by which it might be bound. 
He hoped that such a system would be framed as might render this 
resource unnecessary, and moved that the clause be postponed. This 
motion was agreed to unanimously. See Madison Papers, Vol. 2d, 
page 761. 

"Mr. Patterson, of New Jersey, moved a series of resolutions, as 
a basis of a plan of Government. lb., Vol. 2d, page 863 to 867. 

" His sixth resolution suggested, ' That if any State, or any body 
of men in any State, shall oppose or prevent the carrying into exe- 
cution such acts or treaties, the Federal Executive shall be author- 
ized to call forth the power of the Confederated States, or so much 
thereof as may be necessary, to enforce and compel an obedience to 
such acts, or an observance of such treaties.' Mr. Patterson's 
whole plan, including the sixth resolution, was voted down. 

"Col. Alexander Hamilton said, 'The great and essential princi- 
ples necessary for the support of government, are ' five in number, 
which were respectively enumerated and commented on by him. 
The fourth was 'Force, by which,' he said < may be understood a 
coercion of laws, or coercion of arms.' After commenting on a coer- 
cion of laws, he continued, « A certain portion of military force is 
absolutely necessary in large communities. Massachusetts is now 
feeling this necessity, and making provision for it. But how can 
this force be exerted on the States collectively ? It is impossible. It 
amounts to a war between the parties.' lb., Vol. 2nd, page 881. 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 297 

■ 

other nations upon its borders was a constant me- 
nace against the integrity of its own dominions. 
The moral spectacle which is exhibited to the 

" Col. George Mason said, ' He took this occasion to repeat that, 
notwithstanding his solicitude to establish a national government, he 
never would agree to abolish the State governments, or render them 
absolutely insignificant. They were as necessary as the general 
government, and he would be equally careful to preserve them.' lb., 
Vol. 2nd, page 914. 

" Mr. Luther Martin agreed with Col. Mason as to the importance 
of State governments : he would support them at the expense of the 
general government, which was instituted for the purpose of that 
support. ... At the separation from the British Empire, the 
people of America preferred the establishment of themselves into 
thirteen separate sovereignties, instead of incorporating themselves 
into one. To these they look up for the security of their lives, liber- 
ties, and properties ; to these they must look up. The Federal gov- 
ernment they formed to defend the whole against foreign nations 
in time of war, and to defend the lesser States against the ambi- 
tion of the larger. They are afraid of granting power unnecessarily, 
lest they should defeat the original end of the Union ; lest the 
powers shonld prove dangerous to the sovereignties of the particu- 
lar States which the Union was meant to support, and expose the 
lesser to being swallowed up by the larger. lb., Vol. 2nd, page 915. 

"Mr. Madison said, 'It had been alleged (by Mr. Patterson) that 
the confederation, having been formed by unanimous consent, could 
be dissolved by unanimous consent only. Does this doctrine result 
from the nature of compacts ? Does it arise from any particular 
stipulation in the Articles of Confederation ? If we consider the 
Federal Union as analogous to the fundamental compact by which 
individuals compose one society, and which must, in its theoretic 
origin, at least, have been the unanimous act of the component mem- 
bers, it cannot be said that no dissolution of the compact can be 
effected without unanimous consent. A breach of the fundamental 
principles of the compact by a part of the society would certainly 
absolve the other part from their obligations to it. If the breach of 
any article by any of the parties, does not set the others at liberty, it is 



298 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

* 

civilized world by the United States Government, 
even apart from the bloody horrors of the desolating 
war which it is now waging, is enough to arouse in 
the bosom of every true lover of liberty an agony of 
grief and shame. Through seven long and dreary 
years, the immortal founders of that government con- 
tinued in arms against a mighty foe, in defence of the 
great principle that the people had a right to deter- 
mine the character of the government under which 
they lived. They won the victory after a long and 
doubtful struggle, and forthwith proceeded to es- 
tablish their own political institutions, upon the great 
principle which they had proclaimed during the pro- 
gress of their struggle. 

Let us for a moment glance at the political condi- 
tion of the nations of the earth at that turning point 
in the world's history. It was scarcely more than 
three quarters of a century ago, and many who were 
living then are living still. Of all the nations of the 



because the contrary is implied in the compact itself, and particularly 
by that law of it which gives an indefinite authority to the majority to 
bind the whole in all cases. This latter circumstance shows that we 
are not to consider the Federal Union as analogous to the social com- 
pact of individuals : for if it were so, a majority would have a right 
to bind the rest, and even to form a constitution for the whole ; 
which the gentleman from New Jersey would be among the last to 
admit. If we consider the Federal Union as analogous, not to the 
social compacts among individual men, but to the conventions 
among individual States, what is the doctrine resulting^from these 
conventions ? Clearly, according to the expositors of the law of na- 
tions, that a breach of any one article by any one party, leaves all the 
other parties at liberty to consider the whole convention as dissolved." 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 299 

globe, there was not one holding a high rank, which 
recognized the right which was thus proclaimed by 
a handful of Americans, as inalienable to the people. 
All Europe held that the source of all legitimate 
earthly power was the monarch, and that the mon- 
arch derived his authority from the Almighty. If 
the people came into the possession of any rights, 
they were indebted therefore to the gracions sover- 
eign who conferred them. ISTow? how changed ! Eng- 
land, which was the adversary of America in that 
contest, big with great results, proclaims to-day from 
the Throne, from the Parliament, and from the 
people, its adhesion to that great principle. ^France 
— that mighty France, which proclaims to the world 
that she will go to war for an idea, or fight for an 
abstract principle of right or justice, is ruled over 
by the third and greatest Napoleon, in conformity 
with the will of the people, deliberately proclaimed 
at the ballot-box. Victor Emanuel is the elected 
King of Italy, recognized as such by some of the 
great powers of Europe, upon the specified grounds 
that he was the chosen of the people. The King of 
Sardinia ceded to the Emperor of the French, his 
right to the sovereignty of Savoy and Nice. These 
little principalities, hid away amid the rugged and 
barren slopes of the Alps, were only incorporated into 
the empire of France after the question of transfer 
had been submitted to the people to be effected by 
the change, and ratified by their votes. And even 
the Sultan of Turkey, in obedience to the demand 
of the great powers of Europe, headed by the auto- 



300 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

crat of Bussia and the Emperor of Austria, has con- 
ceded to the people of Moldavia and Wallachia, and 
other Christian principalities within his dominions, 
the right to elect the prince who may rule over 
them. 

The people upon the various occasions referred 
to, may or may not have exercised wisely or even 
independently the privilege which was conceded to 
them, but the principle and the right is granted and 
acknowledged by the very fact of claiming to ex- 
ercise authority by virtue of the sanction thus 
accorded. The governments of Europe do not sub- 
mit the election of their rulers to the people at stated 
periods, but the great point has been gained, that 
the people have an inherent right to be regarded as 
the original fountain of power. The consequence 
is that almost all the governments of Europe profess 
to exercise dominion in the interests of their subjects, 
and with their approbation. 

At the very moment when the enlightened public 
sentiment of mankind has recognized the validity 
and binding force of the sacred principle for which 
the fathers of the American Republic contended 
single-handed, only eighty-five years ago, against 
the opinions and practice of the whole world, their 
degenerate descendants are waging an exterminating 
war against eight millions of freemen, in order to 
compel them at the cannon's mouth to surrender 
the government of their free choice, and come under 
the dominion of a power which in the depths of 
their hearts they abhor. The vain pretext that the 






LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 301 

armies of the Union are hurled upon the South in 
order to relieve the majority of its people from the 
tyranny of a minority which holds them in subjec- 
tion, will no longer avail them, since the terrible 
routs of Manassas Plains, and Bethel, and Oak Hills. 
The world will say with truth, whatever way its 
sympathies may run in the contest, that there can 
exist but one impulse, and one heart, amongst a nation 
of eight millions of people, whose armies can suc- 
cessfully meet and vanquish in battle the hosts 
which eighteen millions of their own race, acting 
under the impulse of an undivided purpose, can di- 
rect against them. 

Whatever may be the fluctuating fortunes of war, 
every intelligent observer, who will calmly survey 
the attitude of the two parties in the struggle, must 
see that it can only terminate in the establishment 
of the independence of the South. The North de- 
clares in the face of the world that it is fight- 
ing for the restoration of the old Union, a result 
which, in the very nature of things, is not only im- 
probable, but impracticable. Even though their 
victorious armies should desolate every district, and 
destroy every village and every city within the 
limits of the Confederates States, and carry mourn-, 
ing into every dwelling, the consummation of such 
a purpose would be still farther removed beyond 
the verge of probability. Every vestige of a Union 
sentiment, upon the part of the people of the South, 
has been already burned out of their hearts, and 
seared over as with a red hot iron, by the vindic- 



302 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

tive deeds and do less atrocious designs of their 
former confederates. It could never have entered 
into the thoughts of those who inaugurated this 
war of subjugation, that the South would ever again 
receive,- as brothers, the ruthless foe, whose hands 
were dripping with the blood of her murdered chil- 
dren. 

It is "absurd to attempt, by force, to compel a 
people to enter or return to a political union, whose 
existence can only begin, or be perpetuated, by con- 
sent. It is scarcely to be credited that any portion 
of the Northern people can now look to any other 
end to the present conflict, than the complete inde- 
pendence, or the utter enslavement and subjugation, 
of the South to a military rule.* 

* However it may detract from their claim to a reputation for can- 
dor, it is due to the leading spirits of the war party in the North to 
say, that, in Europe, they do not pretend amongst their friends that 
they have any hope, or even wish, to restore the old Union. The 
writer did not leave Europe until after the war had already com- 
menced, and having been several years resident in that country, he 
had opportunities of becoming acquainted with the real plans of the 
anti-slavery party in America, because there, they threw off the dis- 
guise, which it was still necessary to wear in America. When "the 
war for the restoration of the Union" was proclaimed in America, 
the world said, in the words of Douglas, "war is eternal separation. " 
The representatives of the war party in Europe said "No ! it is 
death to the former Union of free and equal States, but war will ac- 
quire the South for the North, and she will hold it under military 
rule by right of conquest." They spoke, unreservedly, of breaking 
up the old Constitution, and establishing a consolidated government 
of the States of the North, and then, after the conquest of the 
South, they would divide it into military districts, and hold t them as 
provinces. They referred, with great self-complacency, to historical 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 303 

"When such is the issue, and the only issue pre- 
sented, the South knows well that, whether the war 
endures for one year, or five years, or a generation, 
she must fight on until her victorious legions 
establish her independence. 

Any why should such a result be deplored by any 
friend of liberty? The old federal Union had 
played its part upon the political stage — it had an- 
swered the purpose of its creation, by sustaining 
the power of the infant Government until the Re- 
publics which formed it had attained to manhood. 
The great continent of North America was never 
designed, by the wisdom of Omnipotence, to form 
but a single, undivided, and indivisible Power. 
The State of Texas, alone, embraces territory suffi- 

parallels, which they said established that, by a law of nature, 
Southern people were always subjected, sooner or later, by Northern 
invaders. It is, certain that at least one of the proselytes to this 
opinion was recalled from Europe, and is now holding one of the 
highest positions as a military commander in the "Union" army. 
His conduct, since he assumed command, proves conclusively that his 
feelings and opinions upon this point have not undorgone a change. 
In this connection it may not be out of place to state a fact which 
may not be generally known, namely, that the first great impulse 
given to the inauguration of this war, came from certain parties in 
Europe, whose anti-slavery sympathies had led them to form an in- 
timate alliance with many of the Republican leaders in America. 
When the information crossed the Atlantic that there was a small 
probability of a compromise, by which the integrity of the South 
would be guaranteed, and that Mr. Seward, and other prominent 
Republican politicians were trembling in the balance, the frantic 
violence of some of their European allies was almost equal to that 
of the Northerners on the occasion of the fall of Sumter. They 
taunted their American friends with the charge of timidity and in- 



304 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

cient for a vast empire. The old Union has had its 
day, and it has passed away forever. No human 
agency can restore it to life. It has perished by 
the fiat of Omnipotence, and by the unchangeable 
will of the people of the South. 

The North and the South are of the same race, 

sincerity, and told them that if their own previous statements were 
to be relied upon, the South had been so completely enervated by 
slavery that their subjugation could be accomplished almost without 
an effort, and with but little bloodshed. They further insisted, that 
whether the South was permitted to secede, or to remain in the Union 
upon a new compromise, it would result in an indefinite perpetuation 
of slavery ; whereas, after many sacrifices and disappointments, the 
North had at last made itself master of the position, and that it would 
seem to be an act of folly and imbecility to lose the present golden op- 
portunity. So that at the very moment when the Americans were dream- 
ing of peace, Southerners who were in Europe did not doubt that 
there would be a bloody war, for we knew a fact of which Europeans 
seemed strangely ignorant, namely, that the South had the will and 
the military force to offer a successful resistance. 

In corroboration of the fact that the foreign impulse referred to, 
had a powerful influence in inducing a change of policy in the United 
States, the reader has but to refer to the speeches and writings of the 
recognized leaders of that party about the time referred to. In order 
not to encumber this note with an unnecessary number of proofs 
upon this point, I will extract some brief paragraphs from a journal 
which has always been recognized as the leading anti-Southern paper 
in the United States. 

From the New York Tribune of Nov. 26, and Dec. 17, 1860. 

We hold with Jefferson to the inalienable right of communities to 
alter or abolish forms of government that have become oppressive 
or injurious, and if the cotton States shall become satisfied that they 
can do better out of the Union than in it, we insist on letting them 
go in peace. The right to secede may be a revolutionary one, but it 
exists nevertheless, and we do not see how one party can have a right 
to do, what another party has a right to prevent. Whenever a con- 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 305 

speaking the same language, but they are, and 
always have been, from the beginning, two peoples. 
Circumstances, coupled with a once existing politi- 
cal necessity, for a time united them, but they never 
mingled. They were as oil and water preserved for 
a season in the same bottle. Confined upon every 

siderable section of our Union shall deliberately resolve to go out, we 
shall resist all coercive measures designed to keep it in. We hope 
never to live in a Republic, whereof one section is pinned to the 

residue by bayonets If ever seven or eight States send 

agents to Washington to say "we want to get out of the Union," we 
shall feel constrained by our devotion to human liberty, to say "let 
them go !" And we do not see hpw we could take the other side, 
without coming in direct conflict with those rights of man which we 
hold paramount to all political arrangements^ however convenient and 
advantageous. 

From the same, of May 1, 1861. 

But, nevertheless, we mean to conquer them — [the Confederate 
States] not merely to defeat, but to conquer, to subjugate them. But when 
the rebellious traitors are overwhelmed in the field, and scattered 
like leaves before an angry wind, it must not be to return to peaceful 
and contented homes ! They must find poverty at their firesides, and 
see privation in the anxious eyes of mothers, and the rags of children. 
The whole coast of the South, from the Delaware to the Bio Grande, 
must be, a solitude, save from the presence of a blockading squadron, 
so that no relief shall come in to the beleaguered people from the sea. 
It is in the power of the West literally to starve her into submission. 

I select from another leading organ of the party in power at Wash- 
ington, the following brief extract, which is only important as ex- 
hibiting the model after which the war, or rather the massacre, 
against the South is to be conducted. 

From the New York Times, May 1, 1861. 

How shall the United States government wage the war ? Whoever 
has to die, it is better to die by the guillotine, than by a cancer. Then 
up with the axe, and down with the head, and let the slide fall. 



306 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

side, and shaken up with a sufficient degree of 
violence, they pass through and through each other, 
creating an ugly, excited compound, covered with 
froth and filled with bubbles. But remove the exter- 
nal force, give both an equal chance and a moment's 
quiet, and they separate upon the instant, under 
the influence of a mutually irresistible repulsion. 

"Puritanism" — a word of terrible significance, 
both in English and in Anglo-American history — is 
not developed into fanaticism by a long process of 
incubation. It is born fanaticism, fully matured in 
all its hideous proportions, at the very instant of its 
conception. It has shown itself capable of great 
achievments both i»r good and evil ; but even in its 
blandishments it strikes terror into the hearts of those 
on whom it fondles. It appeared first in England, 
in the form of a great pestilence of living men, pro- 
fessing to be heaven-descended. They went forth 
to battle with shaved heads, but strong arms, and 
unconquerable hearts, and they varied the monotony 
of killing their fellow-men, by singing psalms over 
their victims. The wickedness of England may 
have induced the All-wise Ruler of the Universe, to 
visit it with this pestilence, and the result may have 
been a purification, but the medicine was not the 
less nauseating to the patient. It performed its 
work there, and partially disappeared; although 
leaving seed which took root and which has not 
even yet been eradicated. In the meantime, a suffi- 
cient number for a colony took their flight to the 
bleak and barren coasts of ISTew England, where it 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 307 

still rules and reignl without a rival. Leave it alone 
to operate upon itself, and it develops great achieve- 
ments ; but whenever it is brought into contact with 
others, it exhibits the same spirit which, under the 
direction of Cromwell, shivered the power of his 
royal rival for regal honors. It is a pestilence which 
was doubtless sent upon the earth for a wise purpose, 
but a merciful Providence surely never designed 
that its power should be perpetual in any one 
country. Eternal punishments are only inflicted 
by our benevolent Father in heaven, in the eternal 
world. 

The " Puritan" exiles, who established themselves 
upon the cold, and rugged, and-cheerless soil of New 
England, and the "cavaliers," who fixed their des- 
tinies in the ever-blooming, smiling, sunny South, 
did not bear with them from the mother country to 
the shores of the New World any greater degree of 
congeniality than existed amongst them at home, 
previous to the commencement of their perpetual 
exile; and there has been but little perceptible 
change in their relations since. It does not matter 
which was or is the better, or which the worse. 
Others may settle those points according to their 
tastes, their judgments, or their prejudices, but they 
are different — always have been, and always will be. 

The one drowned or burned women, according to 
the tastes or humors of their judges, on satisfactory 
proof that they were witches, holding nightly com- 
munications with the evil one ; the other would 
have been charmed to make the acquaintance of 



308 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

these curiously gifted ladies, and would have be- 
stowed upon them more than a due share of their 
proverbial hospitality. The one will employ force, 
if necessary, to convince an adversary of his error ; 
the other cares but little whether his fellow-men be- 
lieve as he does, if he is permitted the full and free 
enjoyment of his own opinions. The one wishes to 
compel every man to enter the gates of heaven by 
the road which he points out as the right one ; the 
other does not care how his neighbor gets there, so 
he himself is allowed to go in his own way. The 
one will not smile when he is happy ; the other will 
not smile at any other time. The one would look 
sternly, and ask you what you meant by calling him 
a gentleman ; the other would be angry if you called 
him any thing else. The one will destroy the char- 
acter of his adversary by cruel defamation, or by in- 
sidious speech, but he will not fight his enemy ; not 
from a lack of courage, but upon principle ; the other 
is loth to insult a gentleman by words, but he is ever 
ready to take "or give satisfaction" for an insult. 
The one is scrupulously observant of all the external 
forms of piety ; the other, if he has any religion in 
his heart, does not care to m|ike a display of it be- 
fore the world. The one is prudent, cautious, and 
calculating; the other inclined to be reckless, rash, 
and improvident. Each is great in his own way, 
each is capable of achieving glorious results, each is 
brave, each can worthily fulfil a high destiny, but in 
different fields, and upon diverging lines What God 
in his wisdom and in the exercise of his inscrutable will 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 309 

has put asunder, let none attempt to join together. 
The New England Puritan fled from the home of 
his fathers in order to enjoy unrestricted freedom of 
religion upon the barren rock of Plymouth, but he 
whipped the Baptists who followed after him, for 
non-conformity, and drove them away into the 
deeper depths of the great forest. He made bond- 
men and bondwomen from the heathen round about 
him, and bought and sold them like cattle in the 
market, "for the glory of God and the spread of his 
holy word;" but his descendant would to-day, if he 
were allowed to follow the bent of his inclinations, 
adjust the rope around the neck of the Southern 
slaveholder, exhort him to repentance for the sin of 
holding his fellow-man in bondage, say a prayer, 
sing a psalm, let fall the drop, and after being as- 
sured that his victim no longer breathed, he would 
retire with the belief that he had acquired another 
claim to the joys of paradise. 

These contrasts indicate the adverse principles, 
under the influence of which the public sentiment of 
the respective sections is developed or directed, in re- 
ference to all the affairs of life. Circumstances may 
and do modify, and no doubt in many instances 
change, these sectional or more properly speaking, 
national characteristics. The spirit of the cavalier 
has even made strong inroads upon the very soil, 
and in the very temples of the descendants of the 
roundheads, but the spirit of puritanism in its most 
strongly defined and most aggressive features, is, and 
always will be, the predominating power from whence 



310 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

the North, will derive its inspirations, for if it were 
otherwise, New England would emigrate to another 
Plymouth rock, where her strong-minded men and 
women could enjoy, in undisturbed quiet, that liberty 
of conscience, and freedom of action, and supreme 
control, which they never concede to or share with 
any others of their fellow-men. 

On the other hand, the puritan may emigrate into 
the South, and sometimes he adopts the tastes and 
habits of his new associates, and is lost by being 
merged into the mass by which he is surrounded ; 
but as a general rule, he is- and remains an exotic. 
The improvident prodigality of the Southerner is 
an ever present temptation for him to remain a little 
longer for the augmentation of his worldly stores, 
but ever his eyes wander back under the promptings 
of his heart to the land of wooden nutmegs, from 
whose soil he hopes to rise, when called to enter 
upon the realities of the other world. 

Each ought to be, and would be all the happier 
for the separation, if the Northern people could but 
divest themselves of their insane ambition to govern 
the South. They once possessed all they should 
have desired, and might easily have retained their 
hold, but in mere folly or wantonness, they madly 
threw away from them forever the golden possession, 
as a child breaks its toy and casts it at its feet. For 
long and weary years, they have absorbed the lion's 
share of the profits of slave labor, while denouncing 
the South to the world as barbarians for the sin of 
holding slaves. They have grown rich upon the 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 311 

spoils wrung from the South by means of protective 
tariffs, while taunting them with their poverty. 
They have denounced them to mankind as a hideous 
reproach to the enlightened age in which we live, 
while they have proclaimed themselves to be at the 
head of the advancing columns of progress and 
civilization. If they believe to be true the smallest 
fractional part of what they have said, and have a 
proper self-respect, they should hail the separation 
as a deliverance, instead of fighting to bring them 
back. It is too late. The deed is past recall. The 
South can brave any danger, look death in the face 
without fear, and accept with reasonable composure 
any destiny which Providence may order, except 
that of entering again into a political union with 
those whose unkindness and injustice towards them 
when they were at peace, have only been exceeded 
by their atrocities in war — a war which they wan- 
tonly commenced, not because they believed they had 
right, but upon a calculation by arithmetical rules that 
they were the strongest ; not because they had any 
hope by such means to restore the departed Union 
upon the terms previously existing, but as a mere 
gratification to their pride and ambition, and as a 
concession to the insidious counsels of foreigners, 
whose only claim upon their confidence was a com- 
mon sentiment of hostility to the South.* 

* In a preceding note I referred to the attitude of the extreme aboli- 
tion element of England, in regard to affairs in the United States, 
at a period when it seemed doubtful whether the North would attempt 
the subjugation of the seceded States. The extent of this influence 



312 LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 

No ! The chain of the old Union is broken, and the 
links are cast into a bottomless sea where no line 
can ever reach them. 

in turning the scales in favor of war, cannot, of course, be estimated 
with accuracy, but Southerners, at that time in Europe, believedHhat 
it would be very great. This belief was strengthened by the fact 
that anti-slavery men in England were in constant correspondence 
with leading abolitionists in America, and they announced with con- 
fidence, that the North would neither compromise with the South, 
nor permit it to withdraw from the Union. The following extracts 
from private letters, received by me from highly intelligent sources, 
may not be without interest. The two first are from an English- 
man, and the third from an Italian, resident for many years in 
England : 

London, March, 1861. 
My Bear Sir: — I have been in London almost ever since I last saw 
you, which is now nearly five months ago. You remember that we 
discussed the probable influence of the then pending election for the 
Presidency of the United States. You and I, of course, differed in 
our estimate of the institution of slavery, for you Were a Southerner 
and I an Englishman. But I little thought that your apprehensions 
of a collision at arms between the North and the South, was so near 
at hand as it now appears to be. Such a conflict would be a public 
calamity, but I am satisfied from what I see and hear, that there will 
be war. Europe does not even yet credit the possibility of such an 
event ; but I am confident that nothing but the prompt submission of 
the South can avert it. Why? Look for an instant into the facts. 
The North has, in the election of the President, Mr. Lincoln, entered 
into a moral compact with the enemies of slavery every where, to root 
out that evil from the United States. The anti-slavery party proper of 
Europe do not know or care whether this result is to be accomplished 
in one year or fifty; in truth, the latter period would suit the views 
of England much better than the former. But it does not matter 
about time or circumstance ; the North is pledged to the deed. The 
abolitionists of the Exeter Hall school reason this way. The seces- 
sion of the slave States is the perpetuation of slavery for ever ; a 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 313 

As distinct nations the !N"orth and the South may, 
by respecting each other's rights, learn to appre- 
ciate each other's virtues — for both possess qualities 

compromise to keep them in the Union, would give a new lease to 
slavery indefinite in duration. 

These are facts, and be assured that they are being employed upon 
America, from this side of the water with a force which will be 
irresistible. The truth is, I cannot see how the North can, in the 
face of its implied pledges, do any thing else but resist both secession 
and compromise, if they have been right in that which they have 
already done. At any rate, I do not believe they can resist the 
taunts which will be thrown upon them from this side of the water, 
if they show a disposition to abandon in a single moment the fruits 
of twenty years of labor, at the very time, too, when they have every 
thing their own way. I wish there may not be war ; but I have lost 

hope unless the South surrenders 

Yours, truly, * * * 



Paris, March 20, 1861. 

My Dear Sir: — I arrived here yesterday Be assured I 

was right in my conclusion that there would be war between the North 
and the South, although the impression seems to be gaining ground, 
that all will end in smoke. The anti-slavery leaders are divided in 
opinion as to the proper policy of the North ; but they are agreed in 
one thing, that the South can be brought to terms by a display of 
determination, without mnch bloodshed, and the most rabid amongst 
them, are those who, by their activity, will be likely to have the greater 
influence on the other side of the water. 

I confess that my sympathies run with the Southerners, although 

my prejudices are rather against slavery. It is clear to my mind 

that the leading spirits of the North only desire to keep you all for 

their own picking Don't neglect or disregard what I say, 

if you have any arrangements to make which would depend upon 

such a contingency. Submission on your part, or war, is before you. 

...... I hope to see you in London on your return voyage to the 

dis-United States 

Yours sincerely, * * * 



314 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 



worthy of admiration — to respect each other's strong 
convictions; to smile at each other's foibles, and to 

London, March 20, 1861. 
My Dear Sir : . . . . Well, the die is cast and you are going to 
have a civil war. I have thought so from the moment it was an- 
nounced that the anti-slavery party had chosen their President. In 
fact I may say that I have thought such would be the upshot of the 
abolition movement ever since my visit to America. I have myself 
suffered for liberty's sake, but I detest that maudlin sympathy for 
the African, which makes men forget that millions of their own race 
might be benefitted by their efforts if properly directed. But still 
you have to fight, and I cannot help but wish you success. They say 
in Europe that the war will prove the insufficiency of democratic in- 
stitutions for a stable government — a most absurd assumption ; for I 
cannot see how democracy or monarchy is effected by the question 
at issue. Now I will give you reasons why I say you will have war. 
First, the Northerners would be ashamed to admit to the world that 
they had no right under the Constitution to interfere with slavery. 
Second, the anti-slavery people everywhere would look with contempt 
upon the North if they were to allow the slave States to secede, and 
thus establish in permanancy the very thing which they have agreed 
to destroy. Thirdly, the general impression is, that the Southerners 
although quick to anger, have not the stamina to stand up against 
the cool courage of the Northmen, and that one action, short and 
sharp would decide the campaign. I was never further South than 
Washington, but I am convinced that this is a great mistake — how- 
ever the mistake will cost you a war, or rather it will turn the scales 
in favor of war. Now, sir, write home and tell your Southern friends 
not to allow any more Fort Sumters to fall into the hands of those 
who in one month from to-day will be at war with them. Let me 
give you a little advice gained by experience. If you are going to 
make up an issue with an adversary, the first thing to do is to make 
yourself master of the position, and then negotiate. If you can take 
forts take them, and you can make a merit of giving them back if 
you make peace. In your case the guns of every fort in the South, 
which you leave in possession of the United States, will be loaded 
with shot and shell, and turned against you. . . . 

Yours truly, * * 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 315 

thank Heaven mentally, from the depths of their 
hearts, that they do not resemble each other ! They 
could only be held together hereafter, under the 
same Government, by the bonds of a common des- 
potism. No true lover of liberty can desire that 
such should be the fate of either. In order that 
nations should be free and happy, whether they be 
monarchical or democratic, there must be homoge- 
neity amongst their respective subjects. Where this 
bond of union exists, they are almost always virtu-" 
ally free and contented, whatever may be the form 
of government under which they live. The world 
abuses Austria, composed of its dozen different na- 
tionalities, speaking as many different languages, 
for not conferring upon her subjects the rights, and 
privileges, and guarantees of the English Constitu- 
tion ; whereas, if they wish to establish their point, 
they should first .condemn Austria for being an em- 
pire at all. There are periods in the history of 
weak nations, when it is better they should be held 
together by the ligaments of a common govern- 
ment, in order, by their joint strength, to be able 
to repel exernal enemies, and thus avoid falling 
victims, in detail, to an unscrupulous and ambi- 
tious foe— just as the North and the South have 
been united, during their infancy and weakness — a 
period which both have long since passed. But 
whenever, and only, when a country is united to- 
gether by the bonds of a common sentiment, a 
common sympathy, a common interest, a common 
language, and a common history, the people may 



316 LETTEKS ON SLAVERY. 

look forward, without apprehension, to a common 
destiny. If ambitious men should refuse to render, 
or, afterwards, should rob them of their liberties, 
the people have but to bide the proper time, and, if 
they are worthy to possess them, day by day, year 
by year, or generation by generation, they will re- 
cover, or take possession of them, as the English 
people have done ; or they will seize upon them 
suddenly, as did our forefathers, and once more 
enter quietly and smoothly upon the fulfilment of 
their destiny. 

It is not only not necessary that nations should 
be very great, or very powerful, in order to be free 
and happy ; but it is always to be apprehended that 
the possession of great strength will create a dispo- 
sition to employ it, by invading the liberty of 
others ; which event is very naturally followed by 
the loss of their own. If a people is strong enough 
to offer a successful resistance against external ene- 
mies, even though they may not have the physical 
strength to make successful aggressions upon the 
liberties of others, they have all the force necessary 
to maintain a government which will secure their 
own happiness, and the respect of mankind. 

Such is precisely the attitude occupied by the 
Confederate States of America at this very moment. 
Never yet, in the history of any other people, was 
there so glorious a prospect of a bright and a happy 
and a great future. The mind becomes dazzled by 
a contemplation of the magnificent domain which 
is all our own. We could receive half of Europe 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 317 

m 
into our embraces, and have more to spare. We 
have a productive soil, and strong hands and arms to 
work it. We have the Government of our choice, 
and stout and willing hearts to maintain it ; and, 
with the approval of Heaven, we will maintain it at 
all hazards, and at whatever cost of blood, or treasure, 
or present comfort. The property and the lives of 
our citizens have been offered up upon the altar of 
their country, as freely as they would bestow a draft 
of cold water from the sparkling fountain upon the 
thirsty traveller on the way-side. If they do not 
themselves live to enjoy the ripe fruits of their 
labors, the} 7 know that they will live forever in the 
hearts of a grateful posterity; and whatever may 
be now the public sentiment of their fellow-men, 
who have been misled by the misrepresentations of 
their enemies, as sure as the sun shines, mankind 
will one day do justice to their motives and applaud 
their deeds. 

In this connection may be noted one of the 
agreeable results which will immediately follow the 
complete establishment of the Confederate States 
Government. There exists among the people of 
all civilized nations a very natural desire to secure 
the respect of their fellow-men. The South has 
hitherto, from her unfortunate political associations, 
been constantly and grossly misrepresented by 
those who professed to be fellow-countrymen. 
Whatever prejudices may have been excited abroad 
against the people or the Government of the United 
States, whatever insult offered by the Northern 



318 LETTERS ON SLAVERY." 

press which foreigners might wish to resent, they 
had the ever present retort of the horrors of Ameri- 
can slavery, as reported by those who were them- 
selves American citizens. Thus has the South been 
a target for the shafts of the world, without having 
any means .of defence. So in regard to suggested 
aggressions upon the territory of our neighbors. 
Cuba — rich, fertile, ever-blooming Cuba — was spread 
out invitingly before our eyes. Northern cupidity 
would have clutched the tempting prize, and the 
South would have taken in the bait of an augmen- 
tation of its political power, if Spain could have 
been induced to sell. But there was no Southerner 
of intelligence so blind as not to perceive that the 
acquisition, however valuable to the North, would 
have resulted in a heavy pecuniary loss to the 
South, because we could not have competed with 
her successfully in productions common to ooth. 
The South, like a drowning man, was willing to 
grasp at any straw, which would, by adding to her 
political power in the Government, have enabled 
her to make a few more feafale struggles to main- 
tain herself against that storm of sectionalism and 
fanaticism by which she was at last overtaken ; but 
it was well known that the only beneficiary would 
be the North. 

• These causes of irritation to European powers, 
have all been charged as the " aggressions of the 
slave power; " whereas, if the Southern States had 
been left to themselves, and had been free from 
constraint, while they would have been perfectly 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 319 

inc Afferent to any acquisitions which Spain might 
choose to make among the barbarous inhabitants 
of the American islands, who have shown their 
utter incapacity to govern themselves, the Island 
of Cuba, however desirable as an acquisition of 
political power, would have been one of the last 
possessions they would have coveted. Now, that 
we are and will remain free, sovereign, and inde- 
pendent upon our own soil, each of us will be judged 
by mankind by our own acts, and not by the inter- 
ested and malicious representations of the other. 
The world will be surprised to find how egregiously 
it has been misled in regard to the characteristics 
and qualities of the people of the South. 

Nevertheless, in the prosecution of the war in 
which the people of the South are now engaged, 
however gratifying it might be to have the sympa- 
thies of good men everywhere, we neither seek, nor 
desire, nor expect any foreign aid from any quarter 
of the globe. If we cannot win our own liberties 
by our own unaided efforts, we could not maintain 
them if they were bestowed upon us as a free gift. 
If other nations choose to recognize our just claim 
to independence, we will give them the right hand 
of friendship; but we do not desire them to fight 
our battles. If they should think proper to with- 
hold that recognition, it will not occasion us the loss 
of a man nor a single element of success which we 
now hold, and we will prove to them by the result 
that we are capable of maintaining ourselves, single- 
11 



320 LETTERS ON SLAVERY, 

handed and alone, now and in all time against all 
our enemies.* 

]STo people have ever had more unmistakable 
evidences that they were guided and directed by an 
overruling Providence, which smiled upon their 
undertaking, than have the people of the South 
since the commencement of their great struggle. 
To crown all, we have been blessed with the most 
bountiful crops that have ever before been garnered 
in recompense for the toils of the husbandman. 
While our free citizens have shouldered their mus- 
kets and have gone forth to fight the battles of 
their country, the African is contentedly working 
in the fields. Our usual crops of cotton, and tobac- 
co, and rice will be ready in due time for any pur- 
chaser who will come and take them, or who will 
bring to us in exchange the manufactures which we 
require. If none are so bold as thus to dare the 
frowns of the North, we can readily convert our 

*The great powers of Europe are already committed to the recogni- 
tion of the Southern Confederacy by their action in regard to the 
secession of Belgium from the mjld and beneficent? Government of the 
Netherlands. In this case, the principle that a nation had an unde- 
niable right to create, and live under a government which they 
believed would promote their own happiness and interests, was con- 
ceded by all Europe, and Belgium was permitted to withdraw from 
Holland by the very same Great Powers which united them together, 
on the ground of a political European necessity. One of the most 
distinguished and able diplomatists of Holland stated to me that 
the party which had been most opposed to the severance of the 
kingdom, was now fully satisfied that the separation was an act of 
wisdom, and had undeniably added to the prosperity of both, 
while no European interest had thereby suffered detriment. 



LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 321 

cotton plantations into grain fields, and divert a 
portion of the labor hitherto employed in planting, 
to the development of our great manufacturing re- 
sources. Under the stimulant of a present necessity, 
we can produce every thing within ourselves, whicn 
is important to our happiness, our daily wants, and 
even our luxuries. When the war is over all things 
will flow back into their old channel, or continue in 
the direction which they shall have received under 
the impulse of necessity. 

The freemen of the South have entered upon their 
great struggle with a unity of feeling and purpose, 
which has struck terror into the hearts of their 
enemies, and amazed even their friends ; but their 
glorious work is not yet finished. The clouds are 
over our heads, my fellow-countrymen, and the 
storm is still raging around us, and many a heart 
may yet mourn the loss of dear ones, and many a 
tear of bitter anguish may fall, as the eye wanders 
over the desolated track of the ruthless invader ; 
but behind the clouds we can see the dawning of 
the bright and glorious sunlight, and above the 
roarings of the storm of battle we can hear the glad 
shouts of victory! And our soldiers will come 
back again to make joyous the homes which have 
been made solitary by their absence, and the tears 
of grief will be changed to tokens of rejoicings, 
and throughout our borders will ring forth the joy r 
ous cry of the people, "We have fought, we have 

CONQUERED, WE ARE FREE.'* 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2010 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




011 898 600 3 



: 

■ 






- 









- 



• ■ ■ ■ 

.-•.■.-. ■ . 



. . - 



■•:.-• - . ■. . 

• ■ • • .- . ■ . 

" . . : : ■• - 

■ ■ ■ - 

' - • ■ ■■ • - - ■ - 

- ■ 

■ • ■ ' ' ' S 

■ 

■ • • . - • " 

-"■■-. 
. . - 

- • ■ t i t 

■ ■ 

■ ■ 

. - 

-• - : - 

• 

" ■ .■ - . ■ 

,.■■■ - . 

: 
.■'.-•■■■ 
- 

• ' • • ■ ■ . 

■ • . 






. 11 

. . . 



. 



■ 



■ 
■ 






